The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two
by mel.wolfgirl
Summary: Cassie laughed, a soft breathy sound that sent the shiver right back down his spine. It was a laugh that would've caught his attention even without the imprint, and in that moment Paul didn't care if she was a lunatic or not.
1. Prologue

A/N Hey everyone, welcome to Book Two! If you haven't read "The Imprinted Chronicles: Book One", I can promise this will make NO sense at all. Even the prologue deals with concepts from Book One, so reading it without reading Book One will just be confusing and probably a little annoying to you. ;) For everyone else, a friendly reminder that this is NON-CANON after Eclipse, and that there is no Rachel imprint and no Renesmee imprint. Here we go!

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Prologue

It happened once long ago that Q'wati the Transformer came upon the land and saw no people living there.

He looked about and saw two wolves playing in the grass, and they approached him without fear. Q'wati transformed the wolves into people, and he told them that they were to be Quileute, and they were to be brave, and as a people they were in all things to be strong. Q'wati then moved on to other lands, and he taught the starving Neah people how to fish, and the Upside-Down Hoh people to walk on their feet so they too could fish, and he created the Makah people from two dogs, and they survived by searching out their food amongst the rocks and the shores.

The brave Quileute prospered, with fish to fill their bellies and strong children born from their women. They pulled great whales from the sea and for generations were content. The Makah and Hoh people grew jealous of the Quileute and tried to take their lands by force, but the Spirit Warriors of the tribe used their magic to protect that which was theirs. It came upon a time that the last of the great Spirit Chiefs, Taha Aki, was betrayed by the Spirit Warrior Utlapa. After Utlapa had stolen Taha Aki's body and used it to usurp Taha Aki's place amongst the tribe, the spirit of Taha Aki was in agony, having spent too long apart from his body. A wolf agreed to allow Taha Aki to share its body, and eventually an enraged Taha Aki resumed a human form, strengthened by the wolf, and slew Utlapa. After finding himself able to transform between man and wolf forms, Taha Aki did not age, and fathered many sons who shared his abilities. The sons of the tribe, the first Pack, protected their people from many things, although in the Cold Ones they found their most clever and dangerous adversary.

The Pack grew strong and grew large, for while some sons rejected the path of the wolf and chose to grow old and die, most embraced it and choose to run for lifetimes at their brothers' sides. In rarity, the bravest daughters of the tribe would be given the ability to transform like their brothers, and they were beloved by their Alpha and guarded closely by their brothers. Upon occasion it would come to pass that the sickness of mind would touch a wolf. The Pack, unable to stomach the slaying of a beloved brother, would cull the wolf from the Pack and the wolf would be driven away to live out their lives as a beast, a man no longer.

There was a time where the world grew fuller, both of their own and other tribes, but also of the occasional strange pale-faced man. Over time the numbers of these pale-faced people grew, and they brought with them into the land sickness and diseases of both the body and the heart. The Pack was unsure how to fight this enemy, for it had become a strictly adhered to custom that a wolf shed only the blood of a Cold One, or of a beast, or of themselves. There was no bravery in killing one that could not defend themselves against the might of a single Pack member. Many days and many nights the elders of the tribe met in council with the Alpha of the Pack, but the Pack and the council did not agree, and the pale-faces continued to encroach upon the world.

Then one night, while the Alpha and his two strongest wolves met in council, the rest of the Pack ran the lands and found that a mass of the pale-faces had intruded upon their sacred hunting grounds, taking with them in great quantities the food that was supposed to feed Quileute bellies. Led by the next strongest wolves, the enraged Pack fell upon the pale-faces and destroyed them without hesitation, heedless of their cries for mercy. After the bloodlust had passed, the regretful Pack realized their mistake, having shed the blood of those unable to fight them off. In terrified shame they ran from the tribe and from the wrath of their Alpha, cowardly abandoning their homeland and their people.

Eventually homesickness took the Pack and they slunk back towards their lands, only to be met by a figure of a man, tall and beautiful and strong, who called himself Q'wati. At Q'wati's feet lay the Alpha, and the Alpha's two strongest wolves. Q'wati informed the Pack that they had broken custom by killing so many of the pale-faced man, a needless cowardly act, and in abandoning their lands, they had sealed their fate. The Pack were no longer Quileute, the brave people of Q'wati, and were to be banished from the Quileute lands.

Q'wati drove the Pack away with strong magic, and the silent Alpha did not intervene, choosing instead to take his remaining two wolves and return to the tribe alone. In anger and hurt, the Pack turned on itself and divided, spreading away from the Quileute border like fire across the grassy plains. Those that remained on the outskirts, pleading with their Alpha for absolution, Q'wati dealt with the harshest. He spared those that had left, but punished those that lingered by taking from them the daughters of their Pack. As the last female wolf died, the remaining wolves fled, although their grief turned to fury and it burned deeply in their hearts.

It came to pass that the Alpha no longer phased, broken hearted by hearing the mournful cries of his outcast brothers in his head, and eventually he grew old and died. It also came to pass that the other two wolves joined him, and that the tribe was left Packless for the first time since the life of Taha Aki. The bloodlines faded, and the sons of the tribe no longer transformed unless in times of great need, when a Cold One was nearby and the tribe was in danger. Much of the knowledge of the Pack was lost to those who remained in the tribal lands, and that the exiled Pack was forgotten…

Once upon a time…there was a time…one night…it came to pass….

_Hmph_. To the Alpha, that shit felt like it had happened yesterday.

The Alpha raised his muzzle to the sky and let out a long mournful howl, echoing across the tree lines of the Cascade Mountains. Twin howls rose up to meet his at exactly the same time and in exactly the same pitch, an eerie crescendo to his sorrow. They had gone high up into the mountains, unaffected by the chilled winds whipping at their coats. The other two were younger, indulgent in this trip so far from their territory, more interested in flushing game from hiding holes and chasing each other through the landscape than they were in why there were really here. For the Alpha it was different. Down there somewhere was his home, a home that he had been driven out of, and a Pack, the descendents of those three wolves that had been allowed to remain. Down there somewhere were pups, and a baby Alpha who had no idea what he was getting himself and his brothers into.

Down there somewhere was a Pack about to be slaughtered.

He had met the baby Alpha, not that the baby Alpha had recognized him for what he was. The pup had brought his Pack north into Canada several months ago, and had met up with the Calgary Alpha and part of the Calgary Pack at a local nightclub. Calgary had been more interested in staring at the young she-wolf than he had in listening to what La Push was saying, not that he could be blamed. Even the Alpha himself had watched her hungrily from his corner of the room where he and his two wolves had sat listening unnoticed. La Push had been annoyed enough that he hadn't noticed their little Pack, and Calgary viewed them as too small to be a threat to bother with at the moment. Both should have been wiser.

By the time the she-wolf had been sent back home so that La Push could get Calgary's attention, Calgary had already made his decisions on the matter. La Push had some interesting ideas, but he would never survive long enough to see any of them to fruition. Calgary was planning on killing the baby Alpha, although he was taking his sweet time with the hunt, being so careful that La Push probably didn't even realize yet that he was being hunted. Calgary always had liked drawing out his kills.

The Alpha and his two had followed the she-wolf and her brother as she had been escorted home. The brother had been good, but it didn't bode well for the La Push Pack that neither sibling had smelled the wolves Calgary had sent after them. The Alpha and his two had taken care of it. Just because La Push didn't deserve his female didn't mean that Calgary should get one. The twins had suggested they try to convince her to come with them, but the Alpha had no interest in killing La Push's Beta over a she-pup…

Maybe they'd come back for her later, when she'd filled out a little.

A scent on the wind had the Alpha running, his two young wolves silent shadows at his heels. They had ventured too far from their own territory, but the pull of the land had drawn him the way it had drawn them all for two hundred years. Two hundred years was a long time to want to be home. It was one hell of an exile, and his tiny Pack wasn't the only ones who found themselves unable to resist the call to go back down there, to take back what used to be theirs. But the Alpha hadn't kept his Pack alive this long without being aware of when to fight and when to run. There was another Pack in these mountains today, one who's Alpha wanted to be home just as badly as he did, one who's Alpha had behind him the strength of a Pack much larger than his own. One who had taken a personal interest in taking what the baby Alpha personally owned.

At the highest point of the Cascades, the Alpha hesitated and glanced down across the deep green mountainscape, his wolf enhanced eyes catching the moonlight gleaming off of Pacific waters. _Home_. A howl not far enough away and they fled, not looking back at the larger Pack that stalked towards the ocean. It might have been with good intentions that La Push had searched out all the other Packs that he could find, but in doing so he had brought unnecessary and dangerous attention to himself and his own. Down there the baby Alpha and his pups were sitting ducks, but this Alpha wasn't going to be the one to tell them that. Even if he had cared enough to warn La Push, he didn't have to, because Jacob Black would find out soon enough.

Unconcerned, the three wolves disappeared into the night.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N Same disclaimer as the prologue, you need to have read Book One for this to make any sense. Book One was rated M for language and sexual references. This one is rated M for the same reasons, but I'm also adding a warning for implied drug use (nothing graphic and no, I don't condone it), and werewolf action scene violence. Because come on, who _doesn't_ like werewolf action scene violence? Lol. Laters.

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter One

The club was on fire.

Not literally, although Cassie thought that if it were going to burn up, there were worse ways to go. The music was good, really good, and her skin was slick with sweat from dancing for so long. Normally she only stayed out on the floor until a light sheen hit her, because while a gleam made you sexy, pouring sweat like a horse made you less so. But tonight she didn't care. She wasn't trying to get laid, she wasn't trying to get drunk and hell, she wasn't even trying to meet anyone to talk to. Tonight she was just dancing and _god_, it felt good.

There was a man behind her, his arm around her waist and his hand on her hip, and he was moving to the heavy bass with enough skill that it didn't annoy her that he was holding onto her. It didn't really matter that much to Cassie, she was dancing, and she liked to be touched, and if it wasn't him it was going to be someone else. His tall strong body gave her something to move against and around and she liked that. The music was caressing over her limbs like a lover, giving her something else to move against and around, and she liked that more. She had been out here for nearly three hours now and it showed in her movements, she had stopped all of those playful hip-hop tricks that made clubbing so much fun and had gotten down to business. Her trendy blonde hair clung to her neck in damp piecey clumps and she wished that she hadn't cut it so short that she couldn't put it up any longer. It didn't matter, nothing really mattered, because the music was good and she felt good and that was enough for her.

The man behind her gripped her hips and whispered something in her ear, and if Cassie had cared enough to listen, she might have smiled at the base innuendo in his voice. She glanced over her shoulder at him, grabbing him behind the neck as she moved, and she gave him a once over. Not bad, not bad at all. If he'd caught her last night, he would have been about to have a lot more fun. But not tonight. Tonight Cassie felt alive, felt a high that she hadn't had in her blood naturally in years, and 'not bad' was not good enough to be willing to share her good mood with. Now that brunette in the corner, the one with the pretty eyes and the pouty lips that Cassie had been eyeing this whole night, the one with the not nearly attractive enough boyfriend behind her…well, she might be good enough to share, but Cassie knew a lost cause when she saw one.

The beat increased, the heavy bass pounding her ears, and for a moment again Cassie was lost. When she surfaced, her eyes still closed and her arms still folded above her head, she looked again at her dance partner. His eyes had darkened sexily, filled with lust as he pressed harder against her and Cassie considered it, was still considering it when the song came to an abrupt end, the club going pitch dark and silent for one long breathless moment. When the lights rose again, blue and red and green, the man's arms were empty because Cassie was halfway to the door.

She made sure to wink at the brunette on her way out.

The bouncer knew her, made sure to have the rope down for her before her high heels had even stepped out of the club, and the valet was running for her car. The cool night air brushed over Cassie's bared arms and torso, drying the sweat on her skin. Patiently Cassie waited, throwing the bouncer a smile as he stood next to her, intimidating with his massive arms crossed over his chest.

"Hey, Roman," Cassie grinned up at the muscular man. Roman wasn't handsome and he wasn't particularly tall for a man, but when he didn't have his work face on he was really pretty sweet. He kept his eye out for Cassie, had for the year that she had been in and out of this town, haunting the Seattle nightlife. He had even made it into her bed a few times. Cassie liked Roman, liked that he made her pancakes the morning after, liked that he wasn't pushy for anything more than the occasional good time. Cassie specialized at the occasional good time with nothing more. Tonight Roman was looking particularly muscley in his tight black shirt, and Cassie grinned bigger when he gazed down at her seriously, his mouth a frown. She _loved_ breaking that frown, although it took some work and a bit of ingenuity.

"Leaving early, Cass?" Roman rumbled, and she shrugged, glancing at her watch. Only one-thirty. Apparently she was.

"You know me, Rome, gotta get home and get my beauty sleep," Cassie chuckled, and Roman graced her with the faintest shadow of a smile. Roman wasn't too interested in club rats but he made an exception for her, something that Cassie found utterly entertaining. Someone emerged from the club behind them, the man Cassie had been dancing with most of the night, and he made to come over and talk to her. Roman's smile fell immediately and he stepped in between them pointedly, but it didn't matter because Cassie's sleek car was already pulling up in front of the club, its engine purring. Cassie passed Roman a twenty out of her back pocket, knowing that he'd take care of tipping everyone for her, and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Later Roman," she said, waggling her fingers in goodbye to the man being intimidated back into the club.

"You be good tonight, Cass," Roman told her as the valet hopped out and adjusted the seat as far forward as it would go before holding the driver's side door open for her. "Don't be getting into any trouble, girl." Cassie grinned as she tucked her slender body in the vehicle, having to stretch to reach the pedals because there was still too much legroom.

"Trouble? Me? I have no idea what you're talking about," Cassie smirked, and Roman rolled his eyes as the valet shut her door carefully. Cassie wasn't trying to, but her heel slipped and she accidentally revved the engine as she swung out into the street with a touch too much gas. She pretended that she didn't make Roman and the valet flinch when the grey Corvette ZR1 gunned itself and leapt out into traffic. First gear wasn't happy with her so Cassie shifted into second, then third as she merged onto the highway. Once the road opened up in front of her, she slammed it into fourth and let the car out to play, having a little too much fun as she weaved in between the other vehicles.

Cassie had never been particularly impressed with Seattle. It was just like any other city, a lot of cement and a lot more people, although it did have the benefit of being near the water. But at night it was pretty, and she liked how the golden city lights reflected off the rippling waters of Elliot Bay. She had spent more hours than she could count simply driving the city and staring at the water, but not tonight. Tonight Cassie headed home, with was not very far from the club she had just left. Home was a hotel, had been since she had first come here, and she'd never bothered to find something more permanent. She wasn't exactly a permanent person. She had come to Seattle on a whim, and perhaps on a whim tomorrow she'd leave and never come back. It didn't matter, Cassie preferred to live in the now.

The now was much more interesting anyway.

The young valet at the hotel was half asleep on his feet when she pulled up. When he saw who it was, the boy brightened and hurried over to get the door.

"Heya, Cassie," Jonathan greeted her, holding out his hand to help her from the car. Jonathan was another sweetie, and not because he had been kind enough to ignore her throwing up on his shoes last Saturday night. Cassie and Jonathan had a deal, and it involved the eighteen year old getting to take her car out joyriding on the town between the hours of seven and eleven in the morning every day, times where Cassie was almost sure to be finally asleep, and her never having to worry about the vehicle ever being in need of gas or oil changes or car washes. It was a deal in which they both thought they got the better end of the bargain. He quirked an eyebrow at her and offered her an arm back to the sidewalk. She took it, giving him a friendly bump with her hip.

"You're in early," Jonathan teased, smiling. "And alone, too. The sky isn't falling, is it?" He glanced above them in mock nervousness. Cassie stuck her tongue out at him, and followed it up with a sigh.

"Roman said about the same thing," she shook her head sadly, feigning insult. "Here I am, just trying to get a good night's sleep, and everyone has to make a big deal out of it."

"The day you sleep before sunrise is the day I own this place," Jonathan snorted before greeting the car by patting it lovingly. Jonathan Wells lived on the west side of town, the bad part near Delridge Way, with his grandmother Baba Wells and his two little sisters. Getting this job had been a break for him and his family, and Jonathan wouldn't be owning any hotels anytime soon. It was too bad, the kid was too smart to be running cars for people who didn't give a shit about him.

"Well, we all have our own personal idiosyncrasies," Cassie chuckled, tossing Jonathan the keys. "Tell Baba I miss her cooking," she added mournfully, and Jonathan grinned.

"Check your fridge," he winked at her. And then because the head valet was poking his nose out of the building suspiciously, Jonathan stood up a little straighter. "Will you be needing anything else tonight, Miss Fedorova?" he asked her professionally. Cassie almost said no, but then she grinned. It never hurt to help a kid out.

"Yes, I think I do. I want a chilled bottle of '59 Chardonnay delivered to my room, you know the right brand, a Caesar salad, you know how I like it, and some gummy worms."

"Sour or regular, ma'am?" he questioned seriously, and Cassie almost laughed when the head valet nodded in self-important approval. Jonathan's eyes were twinkling as she pretended to think about it.

"Sour. Thanks Jonathan." The kid had absolutely no idea what she liked in wine or salad selections, but his boss didn't need to know that, and if she knew Jonathan, whatever showed up would be good enough. At least running errands would get him off the curb and not bored stiff for a few minutes. Cassie wandered into the hotel, idly glancing towards the bar to see if she knew anyone, although it was a slow night. Weekdays usually were. Not particularly interested in drinking, and remembering Jonathan's grandmother's food, Cassie went up her room. The answering machine light was blinking, but Cassie ignored it, making a beeline for the fridge.

"Oh yeah, baby, come to momma," Cassie cooed at the casserole dish that she found in there, and she groaned in pleasure when she peeled the tin foil back to reveal saucy cheesy goodness smothering what used to be healthy rice and lean ham. She grabbed a fork and stuffed a bite in her mouth, moaning softly. "You are a good _good_ woman, Baba, and I will remember you until the day I die."

Cassie walked past the answering machine and hit the play button before collapsing on the couch in the adjoining media room, the casserole balanced on her bared midriff, her booted feet kicked up on the coffee table. The first three were in Russian. Her mother didn't know why she kept insisting on changing her cell phone number. Her mother didn't know what she could possibly have better to do than to pick up the phone. Her mother would call her tomorrow, and she better pick up the phone this time. Two calls from Gerritt, he was having a party this weekend in Vancouver and wanted her there. Oh, and she should bring a date, as if she wouldn't have already, and to not go slumming it. He did have some taste, even if she didn't. Cassie snorted at that one, and crammed another forkful of awesome in her mouth, chewing blissfully. The following two messages were from a guy and a girl that she had met this week, but she didn't really pay any attention. She met a lot of people, and it was sometimes hard to keep them straight. The next was a very deep masculine voice, one only vaguely familiar when he spoke her name.

"Cassie? Hey. This is Paul."

Ooh, _Paul_. She might have a hard time remembering some people, but he was hard to forget. Native American, a couple years younger than her and _insanely_ hot, if a little freaked out by being around her.

"Hi Paul," Cassie chirped back at the machine, licking cheese off of her fork. "Are you still gorgeous?"

"We met yesterday," he rumbled over the message, his voice deeper than she remembered.

"Yes we did, Paul," she hummed, kicking her foot idly. "You never answered my question, though."

A pause and then the awkward clearing of a throat. Aww, the poor guy still wasn't good at talking to her, was he? True he'd said all of four sentences to her during the movie and she'd gone her own way afterwards, so maybe it was a constant thing with him. "I'd like to see you again, if you're interested. Give me a call if you want to." He left his phone number and then the answering machine beeped, signaling the end of the messages.

"Hmm, am I interested, casserole?" Cassie asked the pan on her lap, but it didn't give an opinion yes or no. She checked her watch. It was two a.m. and five hours past the time that respectable people called virtual strangers. But then she grinned. Paul seemed like the shy type, and as hot as he was, shy and her just didn't mesh well. He had called her though, and that took some guts, so he might not be a lost cause after all. Plus she'd been drawn to him, more so than she normally was with people, and Cassie was pretty sure that her ridiculously good mood since yesterday might have partly to do with the huge man. She'd just have to see, Cassie decided with a smirk as she headed for the phone. She'd shake him up a little, see how he reacted. If he couldn't hang, well then, no loss. If he could…

Cassie set her casserole down next to the phone and, even though it was two in the morning, she dialed Paul's number with one manicured finger. It rang several times but he didn't pick up, and it went to the answering machine. Oh well, she decided with a shrug, it was no big deal. The night was still young, and she'd find _something_ else to do. Maybe she should call back one of those two that had left messages? The girl was pretty, but Cassie had gotten the needy vibe from her. The guy however…Cassie smiled a little to herself and reached again for the phone.

It rang beneath her fingertips.

* * *

"She's going to call. It might take her awhile, but five bucks says she's going to call."

At Brady's statement, Collin let out a snort as his best friend slapped a five dollar bill down on Jared and Kim's coffee table. "Bullshit, Brady. He totally freaked her out! Ten bucks says he has to go stalker boy to see her again."

Collin smacked down a ten over Brady's five smugly. Both wolves had recently come off patrol and were on the floor eating a very late night dinner, much to Jared's annoyance. He had had other plans for tonight, things that would not be happening if Kim thought they could be overheard in the next room.

"No way, have some faith man!" Brady argued between slurping up mouthfuls of Kim's leftover spaghetti. "This is Paul we're talking about. Freaked out or not, she's still gonna call."

Brady was often a figure that could be found at Jared's, not so much because he got along so well with them, but because Jake had made it clear he expected the older wolves to take the youngest ones under their wings. Obviously no one but Jake would feel comfortable dragging Seth around, and Sam had played babysitter enough to last him a lifetime, so that left Jared with Brady and Paul with Collin. Being the one that was in charge of making sure that Collin wasn't allowed to stray too far off course, Paul felt completely comfortable in lobbing an empty beer bottle at the back of the pup's head.

"Oww," Collin yelped, and from his place in the corner, leaning against the wall, Paul calmly popped open his next one with the end of a lighter.

Kim walked into the living room with Jared trailing behind, and she gave both wolves a superior look before slapping down a twenty dollar bill on top of their money. Jared dropped down on the couch and grabbed Kim around the waist, pulling her across his lap. Kim relaxed back against Jared's chest and smirked knowingly, saying, "Twenty says that Cassie calls immediately, and you two are morons for even wondering. You didn't see the way she was looking at him."

"You mean the slightly green expression of disgust as he was losing his lunch?" Collin snickered and earned himself another beer bottle in the back of the head. "Oww, man! Enough already!"

"Is it really necessary to still be discussing this?" Paul wondered, staring at the ceiling above his head.

It was late, but it seemed as if the entire Pack just couldn't get enough of rehashing every single glorious detail of Paul's less than stellar imprinting experience yesterday. Once the general howls of laughter had worn off, it had become a guessing game whether or not Paul's tiny imprint wanted anything to do with him. Earlier that afternoon, Emily and Kim had deemed it necessary to pick apart _everything_ that had been said, not that there was much on his side, and if Paul hadn't been Pack inclined to indulge the imprints nearly as much as Jared and Sam did, then he would have been tempted to have lobbed beer bottles at them too. Still Kim's faith in him was nice. Unfounded but nice.

Paul was pretty sure she wasn't going to call.

"Knock knock, kiddos," came a cheerful voice at the front door, and Seth stuck his head in. "Did I miss anything interesting?"

"We're betting on if Cassie calls Paul back," Paul said dryly, still staring at the ceiling. "So far there's a general consensus that she will, although it's possible that Collin will be leaving tonight twenty-five dollars richer. I'm inclined to throw my money in with Collin."

"Don't sweat it man, it'll be cool," Seth said with a smile, striding into the apartment and giving Paul an understanding look before dropping five bills onto the table. "A hundred says that she calls." Seth's faith was nicer than Kim's, but still unfounded.

"Ooh, the Beta's upped the stakes," Collin said, drooling after the wad of cash on the table. "No offense dude, but I'm kinda hoping she doesn't call you, cause I could really use that. I've been shelling out way too much money paying off Emb's girl lately, and I'm about cashed out."

Seth seemed to find that amusing as he plopped down on the couch next to Jared and Kim. "You're still letting Sims blackmail you into doing your homework for you? Why don't you just sneak her answers when she's not looking? That's what Jared used to do with Kim, didn't he?"

Jared tried and failed to look utterly innocent as Kim raised an eyebrow. Collin smirked but then shook his head.

"I tried. Emb keeps catching me when I think about it later," Collin sighed, looking down at his empty plate sadly. Then he lifted his mournful eyes to Kim with such regret that she rolled her own and climbed off Jared's lap.

"I swear, you've got that perfected, Collin," Kim grumped as she took his plate from him, but she also grabbed Brady's plate before heading back into the kitchen to get them a second round.

"Does anyone _not_ love Kim?" Brady sighed contentedly and got himself kicked in the back of the head for it by an annoyed looking Jared.

"Hey Kim, can I get some too?" Seth called in hopefully, and Kim made a noise that indicated agreement. "Yay," he murmured happily before turning his attention on Paul. "Out of curiosity, how long has Paul been hiding in the corner?"

"Paul's not hiding," Jared said with a smirk, sharing an amused look with Seth. "What was your word for it, man?"

"Contemplating," Paul grunted.

"Yeah, that's right," Jared nodded in agreement. "Paul's _contemplating_. What exactly were you contemplating again, Paul?"

Paul took a drink of his beer. Then when Seth raised an eyebrow, Paul grunted. "I was _contemplating_ the _situation_." Seth waited, and then Paul grimaced. "You know, the situation where fate decided to totally fuck with my life insofar as I've ever known it. That was what I was contemplating."

"Is it helping?" the Beta asked curiously and Paul drained his beer.

"Not particularly."

"Things worked out for the other guys, Paul. The odds are pretty good in your favor," Seth reminded him, and Paul gave Seth a flat look.

"Emily got maimed, Claire's parents are still trying to decide if Quil's a pedophile, and last week Jared willingly signed up for a couple's Friday night book club."

"There's that too," Seth chuckled as Jared shot Paul a dirty look. "Either way she'll call."

"What if I don't want her to?" Paul muttered, glancing down at the carpet between his knees. "I was pretty content with how things were, and now…You weren't there, Seth. This girl…she's not…I'm not…No. It's really better if she doesn't call. I'll figure out how to deal with the rest of it."

"Maybe you should go talk with Jake," Seth suggested softly, and Paul's head snapped up. He shook his head in the negative quickly, ignoring the other wolves quietly listening to the conversation.

"I'm not going to go whining to the Alpha about this, Seth. Jake's got bigger things to deal with."

"Bigger than a new imprint? Bigger than a new Pack member? That's pretty big, Paul, for all of us," Seth reminded Paul before he suddenly grinned. "The sooner you man up and get the girl, the sooner the rest of us get to meet her. Personally I'm pretty stoked, I love having the imprints around. We're all one big happy family with them here too. Of course, the imprints love me the most, so of course I love them back the most."

Kim chose that moment to walk back in with plates of food and after she had safely delivered them to the pups and Seth, the Beta hooked her around the waist with his free arm and squished her breathless against his side. "Right Kim?" he chuckled while she squeaked in surprise. He gave her a little jiggle as Jared let out a strangled growl, which he tried to cover by feigning coughing. Growling at the Beta was bad. Seth laughed and jiggled Kim again, making her giggle. "_Riiight_ Kim?"

"Umm, right?" she asked back in confusion, and Seth dragged her across his knee, beaming as he hugged her close.

"I'm her favorite," Seth declared contentedly, giving her a wet kiss on the cheek and making her giggle. "Just how it should be."

That was about as much as Jared could handle, so Seth released Kim and straightened her up before launching into his spaghetti, humming innocently despite Jared's glares. Kim laughed and dropped a kiss on Seth's head, making Jared grumble under his breath as she hugged the Beta back before returning to her wolf. Seth smirked at Jared as he inhaled his spaghetti, and Paul was wondering if he should go get himself another beer. They hadn't been helping so far but maybe…

His cell phone rang.

Paul had ditched his phone on the coffee table earlier after his awkward call to Cassie, so when it buzzed in the middle of the room, vibrating in place on the clear glass table top, they all stared at it stupidly for a moment. It was two in the morning, and there was no way it was her. But Brady was closest and when he looked at the caller ID, his jaw dropped open.

"Holy shit, she called," Brady said in astonishment as Paul lunged for his cell phone. Unfortunately Collin got there first, snatching Paul's phone and leaping over top of Seth to the dubious safety of behind the couch.

"Give me the goddamn _phone_, Collin!" Paul snarled as he scrambled after Collin with a touch less grace, his foot landing squarely in Seth's abdomen as he jumped the couch. Seth kept his easy smile and his hold on his food, but retaliated by hooking Paul's ankle and sending Paul face first onto the accent table behind the couch. Paul recovered quickly and leapt at Collin, making a grab for the younger wolf, who was disgustingly quick as he ducked behind the recliner. Collin was holding his hands up in treaty, but he kept darting out of Paul's grasp. Kim was screaming something about her furniture, but no one was listening, not even Jared who was too busy laughing his ass off.

"No man, no!" Collin was talking a mile a minute even as he narrowly avoided losing an ear, the phone still ringing in his hand. "Hear me out! It's two in the fucking morning, dude! Just _listen_, Paul. Why would a girl call you for the first time at two in the morning? Why would _that_ girl call you at two in the morning?"

The phone stopped ringing and Paul let out a curse, kicking the coffee table in frustration. Kim shrieked as glass shattered and ended up all over the carpet. Brady calmly picked his five dollar bill and Collin's ten off his lap and stuffed them into his pocket, a pleased smile on his face. Collin realized that Paul had ceased briefly in his Collin assault and took the opportunity to plead his case.

"Dude, you said she's hot, right? Like crazy hot, and that she seems like she's got money. A girl like that is only gonna call a guy she doesn't know at two in the morning for two reasons. One, she wants a booty call, or two, she's a lunatic."

Paul let out a second snarl and Collin yelped, this time not managing to escape the other wolf. He was whimpering and stuffed inside Paul's chokehold, getting punched repeatedly in the ribs by Paul's heavy fist, but he still managed to maintain hold of the phone and continue trying to explain as they rolled around the carpeted floor.

"Dude…if it's just…_fuck, man, _that fucking_ hurts_…if it's just a booty call…don't you want to know that? _Oww_!"

"Enough," Seth drawled lazily, but the command in his tone was sufficient to force Paul back to his feet, and Collin scrambled away, gasping for breath. "Kim's having a heart attack."

Kim was having more than that. She was having kittens, she was so pissed off. Kim grabbed up the closest thing she could find, which happened to be a pair of Jared's tennis shoes and she hurled each one at Paul vindictively.

"You _broke_ my _coffee table_, Paul!" Kim shrieked. A pair of sandals and one work boot punctuated her words. "It was _brand_ _new_! Jared, _eat_ him!"

Brady choked on the last bite of spaghetti and then snickered, sharing a look with Collin, who was rubbing the back of his neck to regain the feeling in his head.

"He'll buy us another one, honey," Jared shrugged, and then he grinned at Paul who wasn't bothering to duck the shoes. They were both used to flying objects in this household. "Collin's got a point, man. It does kind of seem like a booty call. Which is cool, you know, if that's what you're into. Which you're not, so…made we should hope for the lunatic option?"

Paul's snarl was deeper this time. He didn't know Cassie, and yeah, she might be a lunatic, but she was his imprint and Paul felt that this was a little uncalled for.

He wasn't sure about this whole imprinting thing, had not really seen it coming, but Paul accepted it for what it was. Cassie was his imprint, she was a part of the Pack, and it was their job to be there for her. If Emily called them in the middle of the night, there wasn't a single one of them that wouldn't be running to answer her. Maybe Paul's imprint had needed something and he hadn't picked up the phone. And he never said shit about Kim or Claire or Emily. Hell, he even never said shit about Sims, so he really didn't appreciate this. The Beta seemed to recognize his anger for what it was and interceded, not that the grinding in Paul's jaw was hard to miss.

"Leave him alone, guys," Seth said, setting down his empty plate and relaxing back on the couch. "Collin, give him the phone back and pick up this mess. Good intentions aside, that was kind of stupid."

Collin grumbled but did as he was told, tossing Paul's cell back to him. Paul snatched it out of the air and stalked past Collin, smacking him across the back of the head with it as he went into the kitchen. He grabbed another beer from the fridge and walked down the hallway, ignoring Kim's glares and Jared's grins as he headed towards the back porch. They would be able to hear this but Paul didn't really care. Screw 'em. He sank down on the step and stared at his phone. Yeah, it was a little strange that she'd called this late, but Paul shrugged and scrolled down to Cassie's number.

It rang three times before she picked up the phone.

"Hello, Paul," Cassie said, her voice sending a small shiver up his spine, and Paul felt his wolf rouse itself and take notice. Normally the wolf rarely cared about Paul's human emotions or activities, but it was very interested in their mate, even when just hearing her voice over the phone. "It's a little late for phone calls, isn't it?"

…Umm, what?

"You called me," Paul reminded her after a moment of silence. Cassie laughed, a soft breathy sound that sent the shiver right back down his spine and onto other parts. It was a laugh that would've caught his attention even without the imprint, and in that moment Paul didn't give a shit if she was a lunatic or not. The wolf was more than interested now; it was practically thrumming with intensity as it listened to her sounds.

"And you called me back," Cassie chuckled. "It's two in the morning, Paul. Shouldn't you be doing more important things, like sleeping perhaps, instead of answering phone calls?"

"I could say the same for you, Cassie," Paul stated, and she made a little noise in her throat before answering, like she was swallowing. She was eating, he realized, and she sounded relaxed enough. A tension that Paul hadn't realized he'd been feeling slid away. If this middle of the night call was because she needed something, it wasn't something major.

"You _could_ say that," Cassie continued, "but you might be inaccurate." His imprint must be grinning, because he could hear it over the phone. "Sleeping is pretty far down my list of important things to do at this time of night. Hey, it's a little last minute, but do you want to come to a party?"

"I'm sorry?" Did she just ask him to a…?

"A party. A gathering. Revelry, merrymaking, a general good time. Want to come?"

"Now?" Paul asked, a little confused. "At two in the morning?"

"Of course now. Unless you're busy, or too far away. That's right, you live in La Push, and so you are too far away. It's a four hour drive to Seattle, huh? Well, it was a nice thought, and maybe some other time. Goodnight, Paul," Cassie chirped and then she hung up the phone.

She'd hung up. She'd hung up on _him_. What the_ fuck_?

Paul stared at the phone in his hand dumbfounded, and then he hit redial. This time Cassie answered on the first ring. "Hello, Paul," Cassie purred, her voice dropping seductively. "Did you miss me?"

"The three seconds were torture," Paul found himself saying back, and she laughed again, making Paul smile slightly. They had pleased her and the wolf approved. "I'm closer than you think. Give me an hour."

"Hmmm," she murmured thoughtfully. "An hour's a long time. Make it a half hour and bring me something."

"Make it forty-five minutes and wear something nice," he shot back just for the hell of it. "Where do you live?"

"The Hotel 1000 off of First Avenue, and I always wear something nice. Does that mean you'll always bring me something?" she countered immediately, and Paul suddenly barked out a laugh. Damn, this girl was fast on her feet.

"I'll think about it."

This time he hung up the phone. Paul didn't realize he was smirking until he walked back into the apartment and saw the expressions on his Packmates' faces. They had heard, obviously, their ears were good enough to not only hear Paul but Cassie too, and even Seth seemed a little shocked. Jared must have shared because Kim didn't seem mad anymore, instead she actually had a sympathetic look on her face, causing Paul to raise an eyebrow.

"What?"

Kim and Jared shared a look, and Jared coughed uncomfortably. "Umm, Paul? You know how last year I took Kim to Seattle for the weekend and went all out, spared no expense? "

"Yeah. So?"

"Hotel 1000 is where I wanted to take her but I couldn't," Jared said quietly, trying very hard not to embarrass his best friend. "If Cassie _lives_ there…"

If Cassie lives there, then he was too broke to come within fifty feet of her. Well no shit, Jared. Paul had figured that out yesterday. But she was Pack and that didn't leave Paul a lot of options in this, so he just shook his head at his friend, stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked out. Paul had made it halfway across the tiny parking lot when Jared came jogging after him. Jared tossed Paul the spare key to his used Toyota and when Paul raised an eyebrow, Jared just shrugged and quirked a smile at him.

"I'll park my car down the street from the hotel in one of those cheaper parking garages, okay?" Jared said. "That means you'll look cheap, but it'll be less weird, you know, if you stay the night and she sees you leave in the morning. You'll have to distract her for at least three hours so try not to…well…"

"Throw up repeatedly until she kicks me out?" Paul quirked a half-smile as he pulled his shirt off. He might have been able to make Seattle in half an hour, but he needed to get a change of clothes and a trash bag to carry them in if he was swimming the Sound to get to her. And apparently he had to find a present.

"Something like that," Jared chuckled, but he hesitated before heading to his car. "Hey, man?" Paul looked at him, and Jared coughed uncomfortably. "Listen, this'll probably go good for you, I've got faith and all that. But if it doesn't…well, we'll figure it out somehow. Kim and I, we'll help you figure it out. The whole Pack, bro, we've got your back."

Having said his piece, Jared trotted off to his car, leaving Paul to stride into the woods alone. Paul pulled the small bungee strap from his back pocket and unbuttoned his jeans, smiling a little to himself. This _would_ be okay. The Pack had his back.

It had never occurred to Paul that they didn't.

* * *

He'd had the audacity to tell her what to wear. That amused Cassie enough to be willing to do it, although of all the clothes in her closet, less than ten percent could be counted as anything other than 'something nice.' If Paul had meant to throw her for a loop, he'd have to try harder.

Still it took Cassie her whole shower to think of something appropriate. He might get the wrong idea with what she was intending, but then again he might get the right idea. Cassie wasn't sure if she was planning on seducing Paul, but it was pretty high up her list of options, so the ultra short, skintight sheathe dress wouldn't hurt. The creamy colored cashmere fabric covered her from wrist to the very tops of her thighs, and her butter soft tan boots were truly thigh high, leaving only an inch of bared skin visible. Of course that inch was a very strategic inch, and if Paul was interested at all, a few crossings of her legs beneath his gaze should be enough to do the trick. Pleased with her choice, Cassie had just finished her light application of makeup and drying her short hair when a knock came at her door.

Damn, he was there already? Cassie glanced at the mirror in annoyance, unhappy that her hair was less than perfect. Then she realized that it had to be Jonathan, and since that kid had seen her in much worse than messy hair, Cassie hurried to the door.

"So Jonathan, is it a good thing that I sent you on a scavenger hunt-?" Cassie started to joke as she unlocked the door and opened it, but her words died on her lips as she looked up and then up some more. Dark caramel colored eyes locked onto hers, dragging her in so deep that for a moment she was left undone.

Yesterday when she had first seen Paul, Cassie had been unable to pull her eyes off of him, so much so that even though he had sickened up right in front of her, she had still stared. And trying to focus on the movie had been practically impossible because the entire time she had wanted to turn and just look at him, meaning that she had missed most of the storyline. She didn't know why Paul had that effect on her, only that he had pulled at her in a way she wasn't used to. Once she had been out of his presence, Cassie had brushed it off as just being interested in a particularly attractive man, but now that he was standing in front of her again, Cassie felt her knees grow a little weak. Paul wasn't simply attractive. He was _gorgeous_.

Paul had one hand stuffed in the pocket of his jeans and the other behind his head as he leaned on his elbow against the doorframe, towering over her. Cassie watched him take her in, those incredible eyes moving over her from head to toe, evaluating and categorizing every single inch. It was only when he paused ever so slightly at the strategic inch that Cassie regained her composure. By the time his eyes had returned to hers, Cassie had raised an eyebrow, a smug smile on her face.

"Like what you see?" she smirked as she crossed her arms across her small chest, leaning against the doorframe where Paul was and deliberately pushing into his personal bubble.

"Who's Jonathan?" Paul rumbled in response, and Cassie laughed when he shifted forward instead of away. It hurt her neck to look up at him, Paul was at least six and a half feet tall when Cassie herself was barely five one, although his height didn't intimidate her. Even in heels Cassie was used to everyone being taller than she was, and even though there were worse things than being at chest level with a torso this muscled and toned, she kept her eyes on his face. There would be plenty of time for ogling the goods later.

"I didn't tell you which room to go to, Paul, I'm impressed," she said archly, leaning in just a touch closer. "Or maybe I'm a little weirded out. How did you find me again?"

"I thought it was a party?" Paul ignored her question, glancing over her head into the empty hotel suite.

"I thought you were bringing me something?" Cassie countered, ignoring his question as well, and Paul chuckled, a deep sexy noise that made her shiver a little in anticipation. From where she was standing, Cassie couldn't see anything but an attractive Quileute man in jeans and a snug white t-shirt, so maybe he was her present?

"I used my nose, Cassie," Paul told her teasingly, his eyes once more locked on hers. "You're not that hard to find. You should work on that."

"A party's just a state of mind, Paul," Cassie quirked a smile. "But it's always a state of mind better shared with at least two, don't you think?"

"I brought you something," the huge man murmured, shifting even closer. "And if you can keep my attention long enough, then you'll get it later."

"Ominous," Cassie smirked, "Or maybe interesting…"

Paul shook his head once, face growing serious. "No," he said quietly, never breaking their gaze for a moment. "No, never that, Cassie."

"Which one?" she grinned. "Because ominous I can work with, but even _I_ can't fix a terminal case of boring, and I am convinced that I am the most interesting person I have ever met."

He stared at her for a second, as if he wasn't sure if she was being serious or not, and then Paul barked out a laugh. Cassie thought that maybe his fingertips had just brushed her hip, even though when she glanced down his hand was still in his pocket.

"Jake's going to love you," Paul chuckled to himself, and then he let his eyes deliberately roll over her once more. "And yes, I do," he added, the tiniest touch of a smile coming to his lips. He liked what he saw.

Cassie chuckled and reached up, patting his cheek lightly. It was supposed to be playful, but the moment her skin touch his, his heat pulled her in seductively. He watched her as she left her hand there for a moment too long, once more thrown off her game. Then Cassie ran her hand behind his neck, pulling Paul's head down towards hers. He seemed surprised, but came with the movement, leaning down until his lips were nearly brushing hers. Cassie could feel his body shifting towards hers, and then, just before he closed the distance between them, Cassie licked her lips.

"Jonathan's bringing my salad later," she chirped brightly, and with that she turned and headed back into her hotel rooms, leaving the door open for him to follow. Paul stayed at the doorway, watching her with interested eyes as Cassie walked halfway through the living room of her suite. When she noticed he wasn't moving anywhere, Cassie turned around and smiled at him.

"Cold feet?" she asked, and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

"You never invited me in," Paul told her in his rumbling voice and Cassie chuckled.

"Uh oh, you're not a vampire, are you Paul?" she teased the huge man lightly.

"Nope," he shook his head, and then suddenly Paul hit her with his full smile, bright and amazing. "I'm a werewolf, actually. But even wolves have manners."

Cassie barked out a laugh and went back to the door, taking his huge hand in her tiny one. His skin was burning hot. She didn't invite him in, but she did pull Paul across the threshold by the hand. This time he followed, and she could feel him taking in the suite, his eyes cataloguing it just as he had done to her. Cassie glanced over her shoulder, checking his reaction. The hotel wasn't the nicest she had stayed in, but it had suited her tastes thus far. Her suite was on the top floor, which she preferred, and it was spacious enough for just her. Two bedrooms, a parlor and a media room, and a kitchen that was decent, not that Cassie ever cooked in it. Her mother didn't understand why Cassie was determined to live trashy. Cassie personally thought it was quaint.

When Paul caught sight of the adjoining walls in the parlor, each one ceiling to floor windows and giving a panoramic view of Elliot Bay and the Puget Sound, he paused and whistled through his teeth. Cassie left him there, choosing instead to move to the media room so she could put on some music.

"You live here?" Paul asked quietly, his voice carrying the edge of disapproval that she was used to hearing from some of her more affluent acquaintances, and Cassie chuckled. She hadn't expected a guy in Wrangler jeans to be so discerning.

"For now," Cassie shrugged his disapproval off, choosing instead to thumb through her collection of music, looking for something appropriate. "It works. Are you hungry?"

"You have a fireplace," he mentioned, as if that was of consequence. There was a double sided fireplace connecting the two rooms they were in, and if she had bothered to look, Cassie would have probably been able to see Paul's shoes through the grating. Cassie hummed, trying to decide if she was in the mood for mellow or upbeat. She was good at upbeat, not so much at mellow.

"The Smashing Pumpkins or Missy Elliot?" she asked suddenly, and Cassie heard him chuckle as if she had made a joke.

"I'm not dignifying that with a response," Paul said. "And for once in my life, no, I'm not hungry."

"Missy Elliot it is. The _hotel_ has a fireplace," Cassie replied after a moment of fussing with the player. "I am merely borrowing it."

"You chose wrong, Cassie," Paul told her as the music came on, rolling around the corner and leaning his hip against said fireplace as she adjusted the volume so it wasn't annoyingly loud. Cassie gave him an impish smile, having to crane her head up to do it.

"Perhaps you chose wrong, Paul," she countered teasingly, and he shifted closer, making her have to lift her chin to still see him.

"I _don't_ choose wrong," Paul informed her, his voice deepening as he invaded her personal bubble this time. Cassie held her ground, arching an eyebrow as he very carefully took her face in the palm of his large hand. His other hand had found her slim waist, and when his grip on her tightened slightly Cassie's heartbeat jumped despite her relaxed demeanor. "You're so tiny," he murmured softly, as if he was talking more to himself than to her. "I can work with that, I guess…"

"Don't lower your standards on my account, Paul. Of course, it's always good to try new things," she purred, closing the remaining distance between them. She was a little surprised, Paul wasn't taking nearly the effort to seduce as she had expected. In fact, it was so easy, it was almost no fun. Where was the shy, tongue-tied man she'd met yesterday? But he was insanely attractive, so even if he ended up not being worth the trouble, he would at least be worth the view.

Keeping her eyes locked on his dark caramel ones, Cassie moved in for the kill.

Paul stepped back suddenly, his head twisting as he looked across the suite towards the door that they had left partially open, and to Cassie's surprise he growled lightly. No one was there, but Cassie only had time to blink once before a familiar head backed through the doorway, carrying a fully laden tray.

"Hey Cass, sorry it took so long," Jonathan chatted, not looking up as he bumped the door closed behind him with a hip. "Believe it or not the wine was the easiest thing to get, but I had to drive everywhere for those damn sour gummies-" He trailed off when he glanced up and saw Paul. Then he awkwardly cleared his throat, throwing her an apologetic look. "Sorry, I didn't realize you had company," the teenager muttered, hustling to the kitchen with his tray.

Cassie pulled free from Paul and went to Jonathan, giving him a friendly smile. "Last minute impromptu thing," she told him easily. "Jonathan, this is Paul, whose last name I have yet to learn. Paul, this is Jonathan Wells."

She watched Paul move across the room gracefully, and Cassie paid close attention as he approached Jonathan. If Paul handled this wrong, Cassie would throw him out of the door faster than he could blink. If he handled it right, well then…

"Paul Coho," Paul said, extending his hand for Jonathan to shake. Cassie had never thought of the valet as being particularly slender, but next to Paul he looked every inch the young kid he was.

"Jonathan," he grunted back, trying to deepen his voice to match Paul's. In Paul's credit he simply nodded solemnly, and didn't crack a smile or puff up in an intimidating way. Jonathan coughed uncomfortably and turned back to Cassie. "Yeah, sorry it took so long. But thanks for making me look good tonight."

Cassie was already poking around the tray, ignoring Paul's quietness and Jonathan's awkwardness as she by-passed the wine and the salad and found the—

"Gummies!" Cassie crowed happily, uncovering a silver plate heaped with the things. She popped one in her mouth, and sighed happily, making a little noise of contentment in her throat. "You are _wonderful_, Jonathan," she declared, kissing the teenager's cheek before she ignored her company completely and attacked the plate of gummies. It was at this point where Cassie's new friend Paul learned just where in fact he ranked in the scheme of things in Cassie's life. It was somewhere below valets and candy, but above evenings spent alone, the same as all the others that she brought here in the middle of the night.

Jonathan smirked at Paul on his way out.

* * *

Cassie needed to put some more clothes on.

Paul had decided this the moment that she opened the door. He didn't care that so little skin was showing, her dress practically outlined every single curve she had with disturbing detail, and he was pretty sure that if she bent over even the smallest bit, he would see just as much skin as he wanted to. Even though Paul had always liked a girl with more meat on her bones than Cassie had, he had to admit that the girl was hot as hell. Despite her slender body, she had one of the prettiest faces he had ever seen, and she practically extruded confidence in herself, something infinitely attractive in a female. And she had to be wearing another pair of those damn boots…The wolf was very seriously considering pouncing, and even though Paul had absolute total control of it, he wouldn't lie. He was considering pouncing too.

The fact that Cassie seemed sure that he would pounce was one of the major things holding him back. Paul wasn't particularly pristine and being what he was, he enjoyed a good lay as much as the next shape shifter. The animalistic side of their natures made sex more important to the male wolves of the Pack, but Paul had never let that rule his decisions on who he bedded and who he didn't. His nose was sharp, and he could tell that in the last three days that there had been another male in this room for those exact purposes, and that left his wolf less than happy. Raging fucking pissed was a better term for it, but Paul was almost as uninterested in his wolf's opinion of things and it was of Paul's opinions. Paul was in control, so it would just have to deal.

If the look the valet had given him was anything to go by, Paul was only one of a string of men that Cassie had brought here, and therefore was relatively unimportant. In fact, Cassie seemed more excited to see the gummy worms than she had to see him, something that was a slight blow to his masculine pride. The wolf wanted the valet out. The wolf wanted her naked beneath him. The wolf wanted to set up guard at her door and keep the rest of the world outside where it belonged. Paul however wanted to leave. He wasn't particularly interested in being just another notch on his imprint's belt.

"Want one?" Cassie offered when Jonathan had gone and it was just them again.

She was smiling at him, even though he was pretty sure that he had been frowning at her. Most people tended to shrink back from him when he was frowning, but it didn't seem to faze Cassie in the least. When he didn't answer, Cassie very carefully draped a gummy worm on the end of her finger and presented it to him, smiling even bigger. Paul let her stay like that for a moment, but then he took her tiny hand in his huge one and lifted it up to jaw level. He dipped his head and ate the worm from her finger, keeping his eyes on hers and nipping the pad of her fingertip as he withdrew, and despite the curve of her lips, he saw her tense slightly before leaning in towards him, licking her lips.

He wasn't sure why, but Paul decided that something was off.

Something was missing here, he wasn't sure what it was, but he wasn't sure he wanted to leave until he figured it out. Therefore Paul decided to play along and he moved in closer to her, tipping her face up to his the way she had been expecting him to. Her lips against his were soft, with just enough passion to show she was interested, and when he deepened the kiss, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed into his body eagerly.

Paul's arm around her waist hooked her off her feet, and he lifted her up and set her down on the counter next to him. The wolf was practically purring in his head, matching the noises coming from Cassie's throat when he stepped between her thighs and guided those long leather clad legs around his waist. A hand in her soft hair, tipping her head back as he slid his tongue between her teeth. Another hand tracing dangerous patterns up her torso. Cassie moaned encouragingly and arched her body into his, her right arm still behind his head, and her left hand already hooking into the waistband of his jeans. She wanted him…

Actually, no, she didn't. That was what was missing. Despite the fact that she had been flirting heavily with him from the moment he had showed up at her door, Cassie wasn't aroused at all, at least not at the level she should be. It was a smell that changed from girl to girl, but it was an obvious one and Paul knew that his imprint wasn't anywhere close to being truly interested in him. It was almost like she was…

A tap of her fingertips against the back of his neck, like someone strumming their fingers against a desk because they were…

Paul broke off the kiss and pulled back, unaware of the huge grin spreading across his normally serious face. Cassie seemed surprised at his sudden retreat, and even more surprised when he burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, Cassie, you're _bored_, aren't you?"

Cassie crossed her legs at the knees and leaned back on her hands, giving him a considering look. Then she smirked at him. "Paul, I am _always_ bored. I fail to see your point."

Paul shook his head and went back to her, putting his hands on the counter on either side of her slim hips. His grin had softened to a quirky smile, and even like this he had to lean down to look in her eyes. "You made a strategic error, Cassie," he chuckled. "Now I'm tempted to never sleep with you. However if you're bored, you should have said something. Your surprise is in my back pocket, it should help."

Cassie blinked, then she tipped her head to the side and grinned. "Well then turn around," she told him. Paul raised an eyebrow at her and Cassie made a little circle in the air with her finger. Paul rolled his eyes and did as asked, trying not to feel too molested by the time his imprint was finished digging through his jeans. When he turned back around, she was eyeing the old pack of playing cards with interest.

"You know, my father always said that the game a man plays says a lot about his personality," Cassie told him archly, hopping off the counter and dropping lightly to her toes. She took his hand and led him out of the kitchen and over to the parlor, where a long cherry dining table was set in front of the fireplace. Cassie sat down at the head of the table, her back to the windows and utterly ignoring the amazing view behind her. Paul wondered what kind of life this girl had come from that she was as blasé about this insanely nice hotel room as she was with having sex with a total stranger.

The wolf was wondering why the hell they still weren't in the kitchen.

Paul shushed his inner wolf, banishing it to the far corner of his mind so that it wouldn't distract him anymore, and it obeyed, albeit with a little grumbling. Paul sat in the chair next to her, angled so that he was facing her, as Cassie skillfully shuffled the deck.

"So, Paul," she drawled lazily, and for the first time he heard the slightest touch of a European accent to her voice, so discreet that only wolf ears would have picked it up. "What game?"

"What can you play?" Paul asked, watching her cut the deck and restack it.

"What can you?" she countered, placing the deck flat on the table in front of him. Paul cut the deck a second time and then took it.

"Poker?" he offered, and she shook her head.

"Tsk tsk, Paul," Cassie teased in mock disapproval. "So clique. And besides, a man that chooses poker is a man who is confident in his ability to lie to someone else's face. I'm not big on liars."

"Go fish?" Hard to lie there, when you were telling someone the cards in your hand.

"Less clique, and means you're not the type that has anything to hide. But since you chose poker first, I'm betting that we shouldn't play that either," Cassie teased. "Besides, if you're going for less boredom, we were doing better in the kitchen."

Cassie smirked and Paul flicked a card at her playfully. His imprint giggled and fetched the card off the ground next to her, the hem of her dress riding so far up her hip when she leaned over that Paul made himself look away. Her hazel eyes were bright in amusement, and he decided that she had done it on purpose.

"You choose the game then, Cassie," he told her, handing back the deck.

"High card," Cassie decided, dropping the deck in between them and cutting it in half. "Because life's no fun if you know what's coming next," she added playfully, and Paul simply shook his head as he slid the right handed stack in front of him. This girl had no idea. "You choose the stakes."

Paul glanced around the hotel suite, and then shook his head. "Money's out," he told her. "It won't dent you in the least, but I have rent to pay."

"Hmmm, how about-" Cassie started suggestively, but Paul cut her off firmly.

"No."

"But I didn't even-"

"_No_. Be good, Cass," he told her idly, but then Paul hit her with another full grin. "Why do I have the sudden feeling that I'll be saying that a lot from now on?"

Cassie stuck out her tongue at him and grabbed her own stack, drumming her fingertips lightly on the table. Paul could already see her shifting restlessly in her seat. "So what are the stakes?"

"Information," Paul said, and Cassie frowned slightly, so he pushed it harder. "Real information too, none of that favorite color crap. No repeats, either. You in or out?"

Cassie glared, but then her expression smoothed and she laughed. "I'm in and I start. Why aren't you sleeping with me tonight, Paul?"

She threw down a nine, and Paul slapped a jack down on top. "For me to know and you to find out, Cassie," he rumbled at her. "What with the accent?" He flipped over a four in annoyance, and Cassie looked smug for all of two seconds before she dropped down a two.

"That sucks. My father is Russian, and my mother is half Russian. We spent a lot of time in New York, even though the family homes are in Moscow and Rostov Veliky. Father felt it more appropriate if his children could tone down their accents depending on the social situation, so he hired vocal coaches. He used to hate it when we were back home and were talking like _Yankees_."

Cassie made the word louder and nasal sounding and Paul chuckled. "Got it. You said you have Native American blood, what side is that on?"

They both threw down and Cassie smirked at him. "Sorry Paul, that's to be discussed at a later time and place. Are you currently dating, involved with, or screwing anyone?"

Cassie's ace destroyed his seven, not that Paul minded. "No to the first and last ones. As of yesterday I unwittingly found myself very involved with someone," Paul told her, and he held Cassie's eyes pointedly. She hummed lightly in response, but she didn't panic. However she did throw out the next question, which caused him a mild amount of panic.

"Why did you throw up when you saw me yesterday?" Cassie asked, watching him carefully. Paul grunted and threw down, then sighed in relief when his eight beat her six. His imprint exhaled, and tapped her fingers across the table again, glancing idly out at the river behind her. He was losing her. Time to up the stakes again.

"You don't know me and I don't know you, Cassie," Paul said bluntly. "You apparently only want me around to distract you tonight, primarily by screwing you senseless, and I want other things from you that I'm not ready to talk to you about. High card to you and I'll make those damn nails stop tapping and start digging into something instead. High card to me and I tell you even though I don't want to."

That got Cassie attention, and she turned back to him. "So what do you get out of it?" his imprint asked in a calculating voice, and Paul shot her a quirky smile.

"Nailing a hot chick or not waiting six months to get something off my chest," Paul told her, and Cassie's eyes gleamed in renewed interest.

"Deal," she said and slapped down her top card. It was a king. Heat rushed through Paul's limbs as Cassie stood and leaned over the table, smirking at him sexily. God, she was gorgeous. "Pay up big guy," she purred as Paul turned over his own card.

It was an ace.

Paul stood up and leaned across the table as well, so that he was mere inches from Cassie's face, and he paid up. "I'm a bartending Quileute shape shifter who turns into a wolf at will. I'm a little broke because I kill vampires in my spare time instead of working extra shifts. The moment I met you, I imprinted on you, which means that my wolf side decided that you were my mate, my soul mate, the one I was destined to be with. It means that when you call at two in the morning, I have to come, even if I was perfectly happy sitting at home drinking beer instead."

Cassie blinked.

"That being said," Paul continued, "I won't be your lap dog and I've never been the type to be at anyone's beck and call, so don't try. But I _will_ have your back, Cassie, and I'm going to rip the throat out of anyone who even thinks about messing with you. You're my imprint and that's not a responsibility I take lightly. To be honest, I'm more interested in why you're wearing boots when your legs hurt that badly than I am in sleeping with you."

Cassie blinked again.

Paul suddenly put his hand behind Cassie's head and this time when he kissed her, she didn't expect it. He loved the fact that the noise she made when his tongue slid across hers was real. He couldn't help himself and Paul snatched her up, leaving Cassie wide eyed and breathless when he finally deposited her back down on her feet. The top of her head barely came up to the middle of his chest and Paul felt a rush of protectiveness run through his veins. She was his. _His_.

"So you-" Cassie started to say, but he cut her off by kissing her one last time, a light friendly kiss.

"See you around, Cass," Paul said with a little smile, stuffing his hands in his pockets and heading for the door.

Well, this didn't exactly go as Paul had thought, but it could have been worse. He probably would have to go stalker boy after tonight, though. Paul grabbed a handful of gummy worms and let himself out, because Cassie didn't follow him. That was okay, Paul decided as he popped a worm in his mouth. He hadn't wanted her to anyway. So his imprint was bored, huh? He'd just have to shake her up a little then. Paul grinned at the thought as he swallowed the rest of the worm in one gulp.

Cassie had no idea of what was about to hit her.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N Chapter two is finally done! I'm much happier with this then I was with chapter one, it always takes me a bit to get into different characters. (snuggles up to Embry) I'm loving all the feedback, by the way. Last time it took me a month to get this many reviews and it's only been less than a week. Yay! Thanks to my last chapter's reviewers: _KerryH, pinkshirt, Buffyk0604, LucyPenny, ally leigh, hilja, mcc3654, twiceasbold, _and_ PinkAzn_. Also a shout out to _Jacobleah _and_ LightIsPrecious_ for leaving me such extensive reviews for Book One. Thanks everyone! ~mel

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Two

"Okay, so I'm going to need a little more information to work with here."

The vibrating of his cell had woken Paul barely an hour after he had finally finished his patrol and had gratefully collapsed into his bed. Paul hadn't even finished saying hello when his imprint's voice came over the line, calling from a number he wasn't familiar with. The occasional background noises sounded like cars and people passing by on the street, so he assumed she was on a cell phone.

"Good morning to you too, Cassie," Paul yawned as he rolled over in bed, checking the alarm clock for the time. It was five in the morning, way too early for him to have picked up the phone for anyone, but apparently here he was: imprinted and exhausted and _awake_. Ugh. Perhaps Leah and Sims needed to make him a shirt too.

"Morning? Hardly, I'm about to go to bed. I just wanted to get some coffee first, there's nothing like a nice warm cappuccino before curling up in your blankets. By the way, Paul, are you currently committed anywhere? Do you take daily medication to keep the little people in your head from talking too loudly? Do you simply have a twisted sense of humor? Or are you actually a werewolf?"

Paul yawned again and scratched his bare hip. "I can see the need for the caffeine," he rumbled sarcastically. "No, no, possibly, and no. The proper term is shape shifter, although werewolf is close enough. If I bite someone they just get bit, that's the worst that happens."

There was silence at the end of the line, followed by Cassie's soft breathy laugh. "And I'm your soul mate," she said, and it wasn't a question. Paul dropped his pillow over top of his face to block out the pre-dawn light coming through the window.

"Cass, right now you're the woman who is calling me way too early in the morning. Talk to me in six hours and you'll probably be my soul mate again." Without saying goodbye Paul flicked his phone closed. Then he smiled. He waited for the count of three and then he called her back.

"Hmmm?" Cassie hummed lightly from around her drink, and Paul chuckled.

"What are you wearing?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I want to know what you're wearing. Consider it an apology for waking me up," he added smugly, and he heard her snort on the other end.

"Right now? Gucci, but its last year's line so don't tell anyone. In about twenty minutes when I'm in bed, I'll be wearing nothing. Why? Want to come keep me company, Paul?" Cassie purred, and Paul yawned a third time.

"Naw, too much effort for not enough payout. And we'll have to work on your sexy phone talking, I was hoping for something a little better than brand names."

"Goodbye, Paul," Cassie said sweetly, her voice almost dripping saccharine. "Tell your right hand I said thanks but no thanks." This time she hung up on him, and Paul barked out a laugh. Then he groaned because it was five in the morning and he was wide awake. He was one of those people that, unless exhausted, he had a really hard time going back to sleep after being woken up. After ten minutes of lying there wishing sleep upon himself, Paul finally gave up and rolled out of bed.

The morning sun was just barely starting to rise, and Paul grabbed a glass of water before heading out to the front steps to watch. Paul was lucky; he was one of the few people on the reservation that actually lived in their own place, although that came with a price. Forks might be doing well economically, but here on the reservation jobs were hard to find and the poverty level was double the national average. Paul's meager paychecks paid for a cabin barely the size of a small studio apartment on the far side of the rez, out in the woods and off the main road so it was private. Paul had personally had to reset the plumbing to accommodate a shower with his toilet and sink, and he and Sam had piped in a second sink so there was one in the kitchen. The landlord had been ecstatic even as she had raised the rent on him, and Paul had been kicking himself ever since.

Still he was lucky to have his own place, and a few moments of solitude. Paul liked his solitude. He liked sitting and watching the sun come up, he liked the smell of the ocean on the breeze, and he liked the feel of the cool Pacific soil beneath his fingertips. But he liked his Pack more, so after the sun had risen above the tree line, he stood up, brushed off his hands, and decided to go bother one of them instead.

First he probably better put some pants on.

Paul was mid pulling on a pair of jeans when he changed his mind, jerking them off and heading back outside. He wouldn't go bother one of the Pack, he'd go bother several of them. It was bad form to phase in the middle of clear bright areas, even if no one was there to see him. It was an unofficial rule. Paul knew and followed all the rules, official or unofficial. Hell, he had been the second wolf to phase and half the rules had been set up by Sam simply to account for his and Jared's earlier stupidity. So he jogged out to the wood line, making sure he was properly hidden from view, and then he phased.

It was always a disconcerting feeling, the transition from being in his own mind alone and sliding into the Pack mind. It was like standing on the edge of a river, solitary and still, and then suddenly jumping into the water. The current of the Pack's thoughts always took a moment to adjust to, and sometimes he was dragged downstream by his brothers' ideas and emotions, blending too closely with them before once more regaining his sense of self.

Leah thought that was funny, and figured that the sum total of her brothers' thoughts could maybe carry someone all of three feet.

Earlier Paul had run patrol with Sam and Jared, something that always left him a touch nostalgic, and both wolves were already gone, probably happy in their nice warm beds at home. Seth wondered why Paul wasn't doing the same, but then the Beta filled the Pack bonds with pleased amusement as Paul's thoughts flickered to his cell phone that morning. Quil laughed, deciding that now that Paul was imprinted that maybe he wouldn't always look so bored all the time. Brady didn't care, he just wished he could be out of school so that he didn't have to take so many damn weekend patrols to carry his own weight. He had doubled Friday and Saturday night patrols this whole rotation. What was the point of being an awesomely attractive wolf, irresistible to the ladies, if you spent every weekend snuffing along in the dirt? Patrolling was sucking the life out of his penis, and Brady didn't appreciate it.

Ahh, now Quil knew why it was so small. Seth broke up the fight before Brady had even begun to retaliate, although he thought that Brady was funny. He also thought that Brady knew better than to think that kind of stuff around Leah, it was like gluing a target to his tail. Seth was surprised Leah hadn't said anything.

Leah didn't care about Brady's small penis. The she-wolf missed their Alpha.

They all missed Jake. The thought echoed in their minds, louder than Brady's offended embarrassment as it reverberated along the Pack bonds. Their emotions were strong enough to rouse the drowsing Alpha, who was curled up deep in the southern Mexican jungles, his head resting on Jack's hip as their newest Packmate kept guard. Jake was tired, was ready to find the damn pup and be done with it, because he wanted to get back to his Pack. He missed them too. Seth very gently feathered off the contact, taking the weight of their emotions unto himself and allowing their Alpha to go back to sleep. He also wished that Paul would do the same thing, because the Beta knew Paul had barely slept at all since imprinting on Cassie.

At hearing his imprint's name, Paul mind started to slide over thoughts of her, of yesterday, but he stopped himself before it got beyond her smile. There was something to be said for being one of the oldest wolves in the Pack. He could control at least some of his thoughts. Damn, Seth had hoped that would work, because he wanted to know what had happened last night. Smugly, Paul thought that his beloved yet nosey Beta should mind his own business and go back to being just beloved.

Seth liked that enough to smile and leave Paul alone. Quil's ear itched and he was seeing how long he could last with not scratching it. Brady was already worrying about finals, although Sims had been tutoring him and Collin, which helped a little. Seth's mind flickered, the way it always did when he was worrying about something he didn't want to share. Seth needed to talk to Jake and _soon_.

Leah was sad. It was hard on all of them to be away from Jake, but for the she-wolf it was particularly difficult. Leah didn't miss the Alpha the way a lover missed their partner, nor the way family or close friends missed each other. Instead it was like there was this pull between the Alpha and his she-wolf, aligning them together, and it bothered both to be away from each other for long. Paul guessed that Jake was just as unhappy being away from Leah as she was being away from him.

He better be, Leah thought, but the attempted acidity in her thoughts gave way to a melancholy longing.

It had been a hard adjustment at first having Leah in the Pack, but now Paul didn't know how they could possibly function without her. She was their sister and they loved her and none of them liked her being sad. Brady wondered if Seth would let him shift patrol patterns to go find Leah for a minute, but Paul was already on it. He padded off in the direction of the she-wolf, following his nose and her eyes as she slid silently through the forest. When Leah realized he was searching her out, she shifted course, heading west across the rez instead of south. Paul wasn't in the mood to play hide and seek today, but he figured he was up for an hour or two of chew on the wolf, which always helped bring Leah out of her funks. The thought perked her up almost immediately and she picked up speed, thinking that Paul might actually be the only one of the guys that annoyed her less now that he had imprinted.

The older wolf ignored that and when Leah reached him, Paul let her barrel into his side, allowing Leah to roll him across the forest floor a couple times with her momentum. He didn't really mind, except that they smacked into a redwood a little too hard and Leah yipped, licking her paw twice before hopping to her feet and pretending that it had never happened. After nipping her nose once in gentle rebuke, Paul stretched out on his belly with his front paws resting flat in front of him, and he let her chew away.

Seth thought that if his dominant males didn't stop catering to Leah like this all the time, none of them would have any ears left.

Leah thought that Paul's ears were like watermelons, the best part was in the center. Paul winced, and the she-wolf's tongue lolled out of her mouth as she hopped over his back and wiggled her way beneath his neck and head, licking his lower jaw in apology. Paul didn't care, he had volunteered for this after all, and he sighed, stretching out a little more as Leah turned around and began gnawing on his tail. He was tired, but being wrapped around by Pack was nearly as good as sleeping, and Paul turned just enough so that he could rest his head over Leah's hips. Her wagging tail kept thumping his shoulder, so Paul batted one large dark grey paw, pinning it down for half a moment before releasing it to thump him once more.

Seth was right. He really did need to get more sleep, but he'd just been a little wired ever since imprinting. Paul wasn't a lunatic in love like Jared had been, but he was definitely jazzed. It was almost like fate had given him a new toy, a pretty shiny interesting toy for him to keep and protect and play with. Leah smirked at that and gnawed a little harder, taking some fur off his tail, but as long as she left enough to keep his ass warm, Paul didn't care. Quil snickered and Leah wagged her tail a little harder. Paul should probably go patrol Seattle tonight after his shift at work, although he had another early morning patrol tomorrow. Three days with no sleep was a little much for even him. But he was just so alert. It was harder than normal to wind down. He wanted to sleep, he really did. Maybe Seth could help ease him down if Paul asked really nicely? It took some effort and energy expenditure on Seth's part, and Paul didn't want to burden his command for something so menial…

The Beta never found the health and happiness of his Pack to be menial. Seth concentrated for a moment on what he wanted from his wolf, and then he pressed against Paul's mind lightly, an unspoken command so gentle that it was more of a suggestion. Despite himself, Paul felt his body gradually grow more loose and relaxed. Leah was making happy little growling noises, but they became muted, lost beneath the rise and fall of his Beta's paws as they glided over the earth. Lost in the steady smooth rhythm that was his heart beat, and his Pack's heartbeat, and somewhere far away, his Alpha's heartbeat. Slow. Steady. Sure. Safe. _Pack_. Paul hovered on the edge of sleep, blissfully close, and from so very far away Jake roused himself enough to _tell_ Paul to go to sleep.

He slept. And in sleeping, Paul dreamed.

He dreamed of flickering fires, of dark nights and beating drums, of strength flooding down through his limbs and courage racing through his veins. He dreamed of brothers and sisters at his side, slipping through the forests like ghosts, of running as one, of being one. _One_. He dreamed of a purpose given, of enemies guarded against, of cold skin and black eyes. He dreamed of darkness, blackness, hunger, fear. He dreamed of strength and determination and love unending. He dreamed...

He dreamed of a lone wolf, dreamed of driving it away with his teeth and his claws, and dreamed of mourning the loss. He dreamed of betrayal, his own betrayal of those that he loved. He dreamed of blood over his tongue, and a monster inside, wishing to be released. He dreamed of a different monster holding him captive inside a body that was weaker and slower and lesser than what he had been meant to be, of walking on two legs when he was fated to run on four. He dreamed…

He dreamed the dreams of his wolf and of his Pack and of himself. He dreamed the dreams of a thousand years, of a life and a people slipping away. He dreamed, lost in their hopes and despairs and joys and hurts. He lay at the feet of a man, the first that his kind had ever seen, too proud to worship it. He stood on two legs, surveying the world that would be his, too unwise to worship it. He merged, became less, became more, became one with himself. He dreamed...

A weight, heavy like a blanket over his mind, blocking out everything but his Alpha's dreams. He dreamed of no more blood, of no more children phasing needlessly, and of no more human death beneath cold or hot fangs. He dreamed of no more pain, of no more suffering, of blessed release from burdens far too heavy to bear for lifetimes. He dreamed of peace, and of a heart shaped face flushed with color, and of children and grandchildren and _life_. He dreamed of a safe life, of a warm and good life, of how it could be, of how it should be, of how to make it that way. He dreamed.

And then, because Paul and his wolf accepted the world for how it was, he simply slept.

It must have been several hours later when Paul finally woke up. The murmur of thoughts slid over him, of Quil missing Claire, of Brady missing his aunt's meatloaf, of Seth worrying over Sims but nothing clear enough to say why. Leah's mind was quiet but her scent filled his nose, a sweet spicy smell accompanied by a strong pull that they had all grown used to by now. The she-wolf was sleeping next to him, curled up in a little ball with the tip of his tail still between her canines. Paul yawned and stretched, rising fluidly to his feet and pulling his tail free. Then he turned in a circle around Leah and dropped back down, curling around her more completely. Her eyes had fluttered open when he had moved, but then shut again. The she-wolf still missed her Alpha, but Paul was warm enough to keep her nice and toasty, and strong enough to lean against when she slept, and he was an acceptable substitute. Quil chuckled in Paul's head, wanting to know if body heat was the way to a woman's heart, and Brady snickered, because the way to a woman's heart was directly through the chest cavity, which was a waste of a nice rack any day of the week.

Seth wanted everyone to steady themselves because the shift change was coming, and Embry was never late for patrol. They all knew the moment that Embry phased in because the Pack mind jerked sideways, not much but enough to make them all a little off balance. Quil was thankful that Embry was always on time because he wanted to go see Claire, and her parents had finally-

Embry was tired but it had been a good day, because he got to spend the morning with Sims.

Embry was tired but it had been a good day, even though that guy at the diner this morning had been checking out Sims when she wasn't paying attention.

Embry was tired and he didn't want _anyone_ looking at Sims. She was his. _His_.

_His._

_His_.

_Theirs_.

_**Theirs**_.

Paul felt it when Seth let go of the rest of them, let go of that constant steady stream of support he offered them anytime they were phased with him. Instead Seth grabbed Embry, forcibly pulling him back into balance, and softening his increasingly powerful thoughts down to a low murmur. A little disoriented, Embry seemed to come back to himself. He felt the guardedness of the Pack, but it confused him, and when he realized that the guardedness was against _him_, it hurt Embry's feelings. Badly. But even if they didn't want him around, he still had a job to do. He still needed to patrol.

Leah thought that Embry was a dumbass if he felt that they didn't want him around. And since he was phased, that meant Sims was out of school and covering the dojo for him and that Leah could go bug her friend. The she-wolf rose to her feet, rubbing her nose behind Paul's abused ear in gratitude before trotting off and phasing back. Jared was pulling a split double today and when he phased in to replace Brady, Seth told Quil and Brady they were relieved. Brady and Quil quickly slid out of the Pack mind, Brady's relief at getting out of Embry's head not blocked sufficiently to keep them all from feeling it. This time Embry's hurt rose, and Paul shifted to his feet, searching out Embry the way that he had searched out Leah, albeit faster this time. Seth had volunteered for a double patrol today, and sometimes when Paul had extra time before work, he ran with the Beta to learn as much as he could from the younger wolf. Today however, Paul wanted to run with Embry.

Embry was ashamed that his Pack thought he needed a babysitter.

Paul wanted to run with Embry, and if the pup didn't like it, he could keep that shit to himself. That was unless he thought he could do something about it. The dark grey wolf increased his speed and darted out of the tree line, angling so that he was running towards the coastal cliffs. A leaner grey wolf, one with dark spots along its back, was running the length of the coastline, blending into the expanse of grey rocks. Paul increased his speed one more time, because even though Embry had always been fast, these days he was _fast_. He angled again so that they ran together and he met the younger wolf stride for stride.

Embry's emotions were a mixture of anger and hurt and when he wouldn't look at Paul, the older wolf swung hard to the left, ducking under Embry's running form and coming up between the cliff edge and the younger wolf. Paul slammed back to the right, driving his shoulder into Embry's so hard that the other wolf went tumbling to the ground, looking almost comical as he rolled head over tail. Embry regained his feet and spun on Paul furiously, but Paul had stopped running and had his tongue lolling out of his mouth in amusement. Thinking that he was being made fun of, Embry growled and without warning Paul charged him. Embry managed to sidestep him, but Paul wasn't going in for the usual spots of attack. Nope. To Embry's horror Paul bit him at the base of his tail, and having a firm hold, half lifted Embry's hind end. Embry was fast but Paul was strong, and quite contentedly Paul began trotting off down the coastline, following the patrol pattern and dragging the fighting and snarling Embry with him.

The younger wolf thought that this was absolutely undignified and kind of painful, and Paul thought that maybe Embry shouldn't take himself nearly so seriously.

Jared was trying _really_ hard to think nothing, so hard in fact that he was repeating the national anthem in his head without much avail. Seth thought that running with Paul would probably be preferable than being used as Paul's puppy toy. And Embry was wrong. They wanted him around, they were just worried about him. Embry seemed to feel better about that, but no matter how many times he twisted and fought Paul, the older wolf wasn't letting him go and this really sucked. Jared lost it halfway through the third repetition of the anthem and howled with laughter at the image of Embry trying to keep his front paws beneath him as he was forced to trot backwards. Paul smirked around his mouthful of tail. That's right, pup, can't do a damn thing about it, can you? Embry would figure out some sort of revenge, and it would be sweet, oh so sweet. Jared thought it was funny that after a dry spell Paul was finally getting some tail, and Seth snorted before ordering them all back to work. They had people to protect.

The Pack mind sliding seamlessly around them, Paul released Embry and together they ran. Brothers. _Pack_.

* * *

The bar was depressingly dead. It was more depressing considering that Paul made the majority of his paycheck in tips.

There were only so many times that the wolf could wipe down tables and counters, especially since Casey, the bar's middle aged waitress, was just as bored as he was. Currently Casey was parked out on a stool at the far end of the bar, refilling parmesan cheese shakers and flirting halfheartedly with Shane Qahla, one of Jared's older brothers and the official rez pizza master. Shane was a good guy. He had helped Paul land this job and he was Jared's family, so Paul did Shane the favor of ignoring him hitting on a married woman. The waitress had a good fifteen years on the cook and was in the middle of a nasty divorce, but Shane was much too nice to give her the cold shoulder. Casey had had it tough, and the Qahla family had never been ones to treat anyone badly.

Paul personally thought that Shane took not treating Casey badly just a touch beyond what was appropriate in the workplace.

The fact that Jared had begun following Kim Connweller around like a lovesick puppy dog three years ago was pretty much in character for the Qahla men, especially after the near legendary exploits of Jared's two brothers and their attempts to conquer the state of Washington with chocolate, roses, and puppy dog eyes. No one thought twice about Jared's overzealous imprinting behavior, especially after Shane's ridiculously excessive and continually ineffective attempts to woo both of Billy Black's twin daughters, often at the same time. Currently Shane was leaning against the counter, trying to convince Casey that she could do better than Joe Carter, even if it was just for a good time every once in awhile. Neither employee was paying even the slightest attention to Paul or the piece of paper he was writing on.

That was good, because Paul really didn't want to have to explain to Shane why he was making up a patrol schedule with Jared's name on it.

Paul smelled Collin before he heard him come in. Unlike Brady, the young wolf had been in school today, although Paul doubted that he had learned much. Collin was one of those impressive people who could doze with their eyes open, something that had taken Sam and Jacob far too long to catch onto. Paul shook his head. Sometimes that kid was crazy good at keeping his thoughts to himself when he didn't want to get called out on something. Collin practically bounded through the door, waving at Shane and Casey before dropping down into the barstool directly in front of Paul. Collin looked up at him eagerly, waiting, and Paul raised an eyebrow. Collin rolled his eyes.

"Come on, man!" Collin pressed. "Share already! How did it go?"

"How did what go?" Paul kept his eyes on the paper, ignoring the bouncing pup in front of him.

"Dude. Look at this," Collin demanded and when Paul glanced over at him, Collin pointed at his face. "You see this piece of artwork here? Well, this isn't my only redeeming quality, man. This is only the frosting on the Collin cupcake. Underneath it lays the very essence of masculine intellectual prowess, so don't think you can play dumb and have it work on me. Everyone knows you went to see Cassie last night, and Jared and Sam won't spill. So, how did it go? Wait wait, don't tell me yet. Shane! Hook me up with a pie, man, extra everything that's worth it. Okay, Paul. Now go."

Collin leaned forward eagerly, his eyes bright with excitement. Paul lifted the soda gun, clicked Cherry Coke, Collin's most hated beverage ever, and squirted him directly in the left eye. Collin yelped and almost fell off his stool.

"Agh! You're such an asshole!" Collin growled as Paul continued to calmly work on his patrol schedule. He did however chuckle after a moment of listening to Collin curse about cherries smelling nasty, and he conceded slightly as Collin wiped at the soda in his eye.

"It was...interesting. She's not a lunatic, in case you're wondering."

Collin's eyes gleamed, and he dropped his voice for privacy. "So it _was_ a booty call! Dude, if you hooked up with your imprint on the first night, then Emb is officially no longer my hero."

"I'm sure Embry will be pleased to know that he still reigns supreme. Not that Cass didn't give it a partial effort. Thank goodness too, because I might not have made it through her giving it her best effort." Paul shuddered at the thought. "Nope, we talked a few minutes, I learned a little bit about her, and then I left."

"You didn't," Collin breathed in disappointment, and Paul flashed him a swift grin.

"Believe it or not, Collin, there are other parts to a woman besides what's between her legs," he informed the younger wolf. "They have brains too. And sometimes even emotions."

"Liar," Collin teased as he leaned back on the stool. "Well, I can't say it's not in character for you. We have very different viewpoints on girls, dude. You're determined to make dating into some sort of meaningful shit. For me it's just fun."

"In four years when you're my age, come talk to me again. If you still haven't learned any better, then I'll have to help you see the light."

"You can't beat being a pansy into me, Paul," Collin chuckled, then ducked when Paul snapped his teeth at him playfully. "Naw, it's cool. I get it, I think. So, what happens now?"

"Why do you care?"

"Come on, man! I'm imprinted vicariously through you here, especially since Jake made you my official papa wolf." At Paul's flat look, Collin backtracked quickly. "Umm, yeah, more like the cool older brother who is looked up to wolf? Yeah. That's you. Anyway, this is a big deal for me. When you two are happily ever after-ed and she pops out a whole flock of babies, then I get to be Uncle Collin! And then Jared and Kim can do the same, and Brady can be Uncle Brady, and the rest of the Pack will all imprint on all the babies and we'll all become one big happy inbred family! See? This shit's gonna determine the rest of our lives, so it's important what comes next."

Paul actually stopped writing a few moments to consider that. Then he shook his head, saying firmly, "Sorry. That won't happen."

"Won't?"

"Yeah. Not that it _can't_ happen, it could. It's a possibility. But it _won't_ happen, at least not en masse. If genetics wanted us to imprint that close to each other, then we would know already. Jacob's sisters would have been imprinted on. Kim's sister would have been imprinted on. Claire's sisters would have been imprinted on. Hell, Leah would have been imprinted on before she phased. And since she's been phasing long enough to have started going into heat, since she's not a pup anymore, I think that means she could be imprinted on even now. But she hasn't been. I'm not saying that it won't happen here or there, but if group imprinting on each other's babies was common, I think the Pack would have inbred itself stupid centuries ago."

"Have you tried to have an intellectual conversation with Quil or Embry recently?" Collin asked mischievously, and Paul chuckled when Collin scrunched his face, saying, "Not that you have to tell them I said that."

"Don't worry," Paul promised. "I won't. But I will think it. And think it. And think it. And think it…"

Collin grimaced but then barked out a laugh, and after wiggling around on his seat for a few moments, he peered at the patrol schedule. "So what's that?"

"New schedule. I'm trying to cut you, Brade, and Quil down on hours so that maybe you'll actually pass your classes. Brady was stressing about it today, so I told Seth I'd try and rearrange things."

"We can pull our weight," Collin said quietly. "It's just that running three instead of two a shift is a sonofabitch."

Paul frowned at the younger wolf. "Go tell Quil and Embry that. We almost lost Claire and Sims because of running two. I've got you and Brade down to forty-eight hours a week on patrol, and upped me, Jared, and Seth to around sixty." When Collin opened his mouth to protest, Paul shut it with a flat look. "Don't bitch about it. You and Brady are getting both Friday and Saturday nights off this rotation, so be quiet and tell me how wonderful I am."

"Oh Paul," Collin singsong-ed, fluttering his eyelashes at the older wolf. "You _are_ wonderful, and handsome, and strapping, and broody, and deep…" He continued with every adjective that he could think of, some of which made Paul slightly uncomfortable as he did his best to work and ignore the pup. Collin was a predator by nature and in sensing weakness, he upped his descriptors graphically, causing Casey the waitress to eye Paul speculatively.

At that moment, Paul decided that his imprint had the most perfect timing, because right when he was about to haul Collin off the barstool and throw the pup out of the bar, his phone vibrated. Paul glanced at the caller ID, then snapped open his phone.

"I said for you to call me in six hours," Paul rumbled brusquely as his hello. "It's almost twice that now. You're lucky I picked up."

"Is that her?" Collin asked excitedly, hopping up and down on the barstool. Paul calmly squirted Collin a second time with the Cherry Coke, this time in the right eye. Paul grinned for a moment at the flailing wolf before turning his attention back to the phone.

"Paul, Paul, Paul," Cassie hummed over the line, not offended in the least. "You must not be very good at this imprinting thing if you actually thought I'd call when it was convenient for _you_. I'm the soul mate, remember? _My_ convenience is of the utter priority. You're the lucky one that I called at all."

"I said you were lucky that I picked up, not that I wouldn't have. I'll always pick up, so that means that you're always required to call. Sorry Cass, that's how it all goes down, unfortunately. Imprinting's a bitch."

"And we have no choice in the matter?" she asked archly. "Are you sure you didn't just _decide_ to imprint on me, Paul?"

"Nope. I would have picked a brunette," Paul said, grinning again when she huffed irritably.

"You can't declare me your soul mate and then say you're not attracted to me," Cassie informed him imperiously. "You're contradicting yourself."

"Not in the least. And I am attracted to you, Cassie," he reassured her. "I would just have been more attracted to you as a brunette."

Silence, then, "Hmmm. I think I need to go wash my hair." With that, Cassie hung up, and Paul barked out a laugh before closing his phone. Collin was astonished.

"Dude! Did you actually tell her about-?" Collin started, but Paul held up his hand. He waited for a moment, and when the cell vibrated again, he answered immediately,

"Did you miss me, Cass?" Paul asked her flirtatiously, and she let out a soft breathy laugh.

"Did you miss _me_, Paul?" she countered, and he heard her lick her lips. _Damn_.

Instead of answering Paul scratched out Jared's name and wrote Seth's name next to Leah's on the paper before asking, "So, are you still naked? Or should you have called me a couple hours ago?" Collin stared at him in horror. Cassie yawned, and Paul could hear her stretching out along her bed sheets, the fabric making a soft sliding noise. He wondered idly if her sheets cost more than his monthly rent did.

"Nope, I am wearing a pair of sunglasses and the new Prada boots. I assume you know the ones I'm referring to," she teased in mock snootiness.

"The ones with the heels and the fabric?" Paul chuckled. "Yeah, I'm familiar with them. You always wear sunglasses and shoes to bed, Cass?"

"Only when I'm not that interested in seeing the face of the person who took my dress off," Cassie purred. "The shoes are my trademark, so they stay on. _Always_." Even Paul paused on that one, letting his mind drift over the image of his attractive little imprint draped on a bed in nothing but the aforementioned items.

"You're doing better with the sexy phone talking," Paul complimented her, popping an orange slice into his mouth as he crossed out Seth's name and wrote Sam's. "Unfortunately I'm at work, so unless you need something, I'll have to call you later. Or you can play with Collin for awhile, he's right here. He's a good kid, so try not to break him too much."

"I'm getting the pass off?" Cassie wondered. "And here I thought I was the soul mate again. I'm not sure that I like this."

"You'll get used to it. If I'm going to marry you, then I need as much money as I can get, so I can't get fired for being on the phone."

"We're getting married now?" He could practically hear her raise an eyebrow at that one. Collin buried his head in his hands and groaned.

"Not now," Paul reassured her absently, ignoring Collin's distress. "I don't like you yet, Cassie, but I'm sure you'll grow on me eventually. Probably not very much, you're awfully small. But like I said last night, I can work with it, I suppose."

"Dude, I can't believe you just said that…" Collin breathed when there was no response from Cassie. Silence, then finally her soft laughter. God, Paul _loved_ her laugh, loved that despite the edge of boredom always in her voice, that she was always happy. The wolf agreed. It was good that their mate was happy.

"Are you in love with me yet, Paul?" Cassie asked sweetly. "I've heard it said that you don't have to like someone to love them."

Paul chuckled and nabbed a second cherry. "Cassie, do I seem like the type of guy that falls head over heels in two days?"

"Not really. You also don't seem like the type to claim you're a shape shifting wolf either, so I'm kind of going with the flow. In case you're actually crazy, I do have 911 programmed on speed dial on both my phones."

"You don't need 911 anymore, Cass, not with me around," Paul told her, and Collin grinned when Paul's voice softened without him realizing it. "I really do have to go, though. Do you want to bug Collin instead?"

"If I'm getting the pass off, Paul, then forget it," Cassie challenged him suddenly, sounding completely serious. "I want a date, a real one, with dinner and dancing. If you can't swing that, then I'm not going to play anymore. I'll be ready at seven."

This time when Cassie hung up, Paul knew she wasn't calling back. For a second he was pissed, really pissed. He was at _work_, dammit. He couldn't just ditch work to go entertain her. What an absolutely unreasonable demand from a spoiled unreasonable…

Paul paused mid-growl and Collin, who had been watching him worriedly, was baffled when the growl abruptly turned into a laugh. "Oh man, that girl is _good_," Paul declared proudly.

Collin tipped his head to the side in confusion. "Dude, you so lost me."

"She's testing me, Collin."

"She's just fucking with you?" Collin asked. "That's kind of un-cool."

"Oh no, she's absolutely serious. If Cassie doesn't get her date, I'm pretty sure she's over it," Paul said. He lowered his voice so that only Collin could hear, because Casey was now watching them with interest. "She doesn't actually believe me about the imprint, Collin. She thinks it's just a clever way of keeping her attention. I could have told her I'm the King of fucking England, and as long as I was good at it, she'd be playing along with it until she got bored. Which is apparently now. She upped the stakes, but it's just a test. Everything's still cool."

"Except that you have to be in Seattle in an hour," Collin reminded him, and Paul gave him a smirk.

"Do I?"

"Ummm, no you don't?" Collin asked hesitantly.

"Nope. But you do." The younger wolf was staring at him again. Paul narrowed his eyes, saying in a flat voice, "Well? What are you waiting for? Go."

"Go?" the younger wolf asked in astonishment. "Go…go on a _date_ with _your_ imprint? No fucking way, man. I love you and all, but I like my tail right where it is, thank you very much. Plus, this girl sounds crazy. If that's your thing, then cool, but it's definitely not mine."

Paul said nothing, glaring silently at Collin until the pup shifted around uncomfortably in his seat. Finally he threw up his hands, knowing an order was coming if he didn't cave willingly.

"Fine, fine!" Collin conceded grudgingly. "But don't blame me if this shit backfires. And give me some money, because if we're going out, I'm sure as hell not paying for it for you."

"Here's ten bucks, buy her a surprise on your way," Paul said, pulling the bill out of his wallet. "That's it though. Make her pay for the rest of it." Collin was appalled. Paul _always_ paid for his dates, and it usually pissed him off when other guys didn't. Instead of being embarrassed, Paul just grinned.

"It'll throw her off, Collin," the older wolf reassured his Packmate. "It'll keep her interested. And don't worry, you'll take one look at her place and you'll get it. Cassie's got money to burn. This'll be better, trust me. Tonight won't be that hard, just keep her amused and keep her happy. Cass is fun, this isn't the worst thing I've ever asked you to do."

"Hey, it's your imprint," Collin shrugged. "I still can't believe you actually told her about us the first night, we didn't even have a chance to set a betting pool up over it. Did you really spill everything?"

"Naw, just the important stuff," Paul dropped his voice to near inaudible tones. "I'm a wolf, she's my mate, destiny and all that. We were playing high card and I won."

"So you had to tell her? What would you've had to do if you had lost? Put a bullet in your brain?" Collin asked sarcastically.

"Nope," Paul rumbled, glad that people were finally starting to come into the bar. He folded his piece of paper and tucked it into his back pocket. "But close enough. I would have had to sleep with her. Now go, I have work to do."

"But my pizza…" This time Paul just growled, and Collin fled. Social hour being over, Paul closed his mouth and went to work. He might have just been teasing Cassie, but Paul wasn't an idiot. At some point, if they were both interested, then it would be him taking her out instead of Collin, and Paul _would_ be paying.

Paul wasn't one of those bartenders that smiled and flirted for his tips, but he was accurate and efficient, and he never forgot what someone was drinking or where their tab was currently at. He went home that night with enough tips to make a difference when he stuck them in the piggy bank Claire had given him last year for his birthday. And then he showed, and smiled, and headed to Seattle to watch over his imprint. Shane went home without Casey and Casey went to Joe Carter's with a pizza Paul had bought her and a smile, wondering why Joe was so determined to dislike Paul and his friends.

After all, they really were such nice boys.

* * *

To be brutally honest, Cassie was a little disappointed when she heard the knock on her door.

Okay sure, she had put Paul in a bad position, but he'd been awfully ingenious so far in keeping her attention without catering to her, and she hadn't really expected him to roll over and give in so easily. Part of her had actually hoped that he would stand her up, as crazy as that sounded, and her respect for him slipped at the polite rap across the wooden door. So she didn't answer right away, and she made him wait while she finished getting ready.

Impending disappointment aside, Cassie had made sure to look as stunning as possible, because she wasn't teasing when she had said she wanted a night out on the town. Her short blonde hair was styled so that it fell across smoky eyes, and her white mini dress was low cut and skintight. Diamond chandelier earrings and those absolutely _delicious_ blue and black Christian Louboutin boots that made her a good four inches taller, and she was good to go. Paul might be irritated at being left waiting, but he was sure to be impressed, Cassie decided as she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

"Sorry I kept you waiting, Paul," Cassie hummed lightly as she unlocked the door, "But you know how us girls are…Hmmm. You're not Paul."

And he wasn't. The attractive Quileute man standing outside her door, the one looking slightly annoyed at having to wait, could have easily been Paul's younger brother. His younger, equally yummy brother. He was lankier and slimmer, although still very muscular. And unlike Paul, once his eyes drifted down, he had a much harder time bringing them back up. Cassie smirked and crossed her legs, leaning her hip against the doorjamb.

"Hello, beautiful stranger," she said sweetly, looking up at him appraisingly. He was prettier than Paul, his features finer and more attractive, and a definitive hunk. Definitely worth the dress. Cassie tapped her clutch against her hip thoughtfully before letting her eyes rake over him. "Are you going to introduce yourself, or should I just guess? You look like Paul," She boldly traced one fingertip over the tall man's bicep. "And you _feel_ like Paul. But yet…"

"I'm not Paul?" he chuckled, and Cassie grinned up at him.

"Nope. But close enough," she chirped pleasantly, sliding her arm through his and closing the door behind her. "So, where are we going?"

"I was going to ask you that, since you're the one taking _me_ out," the young man replied, and his eyes were twinkling as he grinned down at her. Cassie tipped her head to the side.

"Am I?" She raised an eyebrow.

"So Paul says. But don't worry, if you can't afford it or have no idea what to do, I'll figure something out. I'm Collin, by the way." Aww, he was sweet. And way too easy a target. Hadn't Paul said something about not breaking this one?

"Hmmm, the pass off guy," she nodded in remembrance. "And Paul's at work?"

"Yup."

A pleased smile stretched across her face. "He's responsible, that's nice," Cassie decided, and then she laughed, pulling Collin towards the elevator. "He's not very smart though. Don't send a replacement date that's this good looking if you want to keep the girl."

"I'll tell him you said that, many many times," Collin promised, his eyes on her legs again, and possibly her ass. His voice lowered as if he was talking to himself. "Dammit Paul, I think you're just screwing with me here. This is cruel."

Cassie had hit the elevator button, but she turned and faced Collin, an devilish smile on her face. She licked her lips and sidled in closer. "You know, I never invited you in, Collin," she breathed softly. "That was really rude of me. Would you like to see my place?"

It took him by surprise, and it slightly flustered him. "Oh. Umm. Naw, that's cool," Collin said uncomfortably, running a hand over his head. "Dinner and dancing, right?"

"Dinner and dancing can wait…" Cassie said as she stalked towards him, her predatory eyes locked on his. She looked good tonight and she knew it and she used it as she hooked her manicured fingers into his front pockets. His eyes widened in shock, which made her laugh, and so she slid her fingers into his pockets even deeper.

In Collin's defense, he was normally very good with the ladies. He had never met a girl that he couldn't match flirt for flirt, and he was always up for a good time. However Collin loved Paul, and Cassie was Paul's imprint, and in coming to this hotel, Collin had already felt a little outclassed. So he really wasn't expecting sex on a stick in a killer dress to attack him in the first five minutes. It was possibly the first time in his life that a girl made Collin yelp and scramble backwards, retreating until his back hit the wall. Cassie grinned evilly and pounced, but Collin stopped her mid-pounce, his hands on her tiny waist as he held her off at arm's length.

"Whoa! Whoa, wait up! Down, temptress, down!"

Cassie smirked at that, ignoring the elevator opening and then closing again. "Requests already? Are you always this forward, Collin?" she purred, her booted toe finding and rubbing his ankle suggestively. Collin made a high pitched epping noise in his throat.

"Sixteen!" Collin panicked, glancing around the empty hall for help. "I'm only sixteen, Cassie, so while I would normally be up for this, Paul would be really mad if his imprint went to jail for statutory rape."

"I won't tell," Cassie promised seductively, covering his hands on her waist with her own, and she licked her lips again. Her eyes gleamed with interest as she ran her fingernails up the sleeves of his button down shirt, and by the cornered expression in Collin's eyes, she could tell that the poor kid had no clue that she was just messing with him. She had been serious up until the age thing, but he was right. She was twenty-four and wasn't going to be bedding a high school kid anytime soon. But it was fun watching a guy that big squirm.

"I brought you something!" he finally squeaked, and Cassie immediately looked up in renewed interest, letting her hands drop.

"Really?" she asked, pleased. "That was nice of you."

"If you promise not to attack me anymore, I'll give it to you, Cassie," Collin said, exhaling in relief when she smiled sweetly and clasped her hands behind her back. He warily released her waist, and even though Cassie didn't move out of his personal bubble, she did bounce a little on her heels in anticipation. Collin grinned at her as if he thought that was cute, and he pulled something out of the pocket of his khakis. It was a little black box, only an inch long on each side with square colored stickers, and it was connected to a key chain. It took her a moment to figure it out, but when he handed it to her, she suddenly laughed.

"This is the tiniest Rubik's cube I've ever seen! It's so cute!" Cassie crowed, and she hook the ring on her finger as she dangled it in front of her nose. "I've never been able to solve one of these things," she added. "Thank you, Collin."

"I have been ordered to keep you amused and keep you happy, Cassie," he replied, grinning. He seemed much more relaxed now that she had stopped pawing at him. He took her gently by the elbow and directed her back to the elevator. He hit the button a second time and turned to her. "Now, what first? Food or entertainment?"

"Hmmm. Are you driving or am I?" Cassie asked absently, already twisting her Rubik's cube. Ha! One side already. She was made of awesome.

"I ran here, babe," Collin chuckled. "Wolf, remember?"

She glanced up at him, then shook her head. "That's right. Wolf Pack, huh? Whatever floats you and Paul's boats, Collin. I used to know this girl in Venice that was _convinced_ she was a kelpie. You know the ones that always drowned the sailors? She used to get piss drunk and try to tip the gondolas in the canals, and we had to keep hauling her back into our boat. I want McDonald's by the way," she added as they stepped into the empty elevator. "Unless you object."

Collin blinked. "Really?"

"You can order for me, since you're my date," she smiled at him impishly. "I want a cheeseburger with no pickles and extra ketchup and extra of those yummy little onions, and absolutely no mustard. Death to all things mustard."

"Do they ever get that right?" he asked dubiously and she chuckled.

"Nope, but you're scarier looking them me, so a girl can only hope," Cassie smirked, spinning the keychain over her finger as they headed across the lobby, Collin trailing behind her slightly. She caught the desk receptionist's eye, and the girl nodded, picking up a phone immediately to call for Cassie's car. They passed by the bar and Cassie turned in a circle, her slender heels making a light clicking noise on the tile as she walked backwards, looking up at Collin with a smile.

"I'm assuming by the three guys you glared at just now, that you're planning on being a little territorial tonight?"

Collin blinked, then blushed slightly at having been caught.

"Here's the deal," she continued easily. "We're not hooking up, so that makes you a friend with no benefits. You're a hot accessory, Collin, but it would suck if you scared away all the other possible evening attractions. If you promise to not try to babysit me tonight, then you can drive my car. No cutting me off from drinking, no running off guys or girls, no killing my fun."

"Cassie," Collin said hesitantly as the doorman opened the door for her, since she was still walking backwards. "I don't know if I should-"

The steel grey Corvette ZR1 pulled up in front of the sidewalk, its engine purring. When he realized it was hers, Collin immediately said, "Deal!", before making a running leap for the car. Cassie laughed as he practically dragged the valet out and then slid into the driver's seat. The valet shook her head in annoyance as Collin made cooing noises to the car, and she tried to get the door for Cassie. Cassie smiled but waved her off, waiting patiently on the sidewalk until Collin realized that he had abandoned her.

"Shit!" Collin said, hopping out of the car and heading for the other side. He grinned rakishly at Cassie as he opened the passenger side door and offered her his hand. "Sorry, Cass."

"You're cute, Collin," Cassie smiled, accepting his hand and settling herself into the passenger seat. To be honest, she didn't mind not driving. She kind of sucked at it. Collin was in seventh heaven, as he made sure to introduce himself properly to the car, fawning over every amenity. Cassie was in no hurry, being almost as preoccupied by the Rubik's cube as Collin was the car. Finally Collin glanced over at her.

"You sure about this? I'm an okay driver and I can drive a stick, but if I crash this, I'll still be trying to pay you for the damages when I'm eighty."

Cassie flapped her hand at him dismissively. "It doesn't matter, Collin. My good cars are in Moscow. Just don't kill me, and if you get pulled over, I'm not paying your speeding ticket."

"This is your junker car?" he asked in disbelief, then he shook his head, muttering. "Poor Paul."

"Hmm?"

"Nothing. Hold on tight, babe," he winked at her. "This might be a little rough."

Cassie grinned, always up for a dirty joke, and she patted his knee for his efforts. Collin was a better driver than she was, and it was always nice to ride in here without all the jerks from her shifting badly. Collin accelerated, and when the engine roared to life, he moaned appreciatively.

"Oh my god, this is better than sex," he declared, shifting gears.

"Then you've been doing it wrong," Cassie said, her concentration on the cube. She bounced in her seat eagerly as she twisted it faster. "Ah hah! I got it! Oh, bummer. Nope, I didn't. Stupid cube," she stuck her tongue out at it and Collin chuckled, slowing down. Cassie looked around. "Really? I thought you'd play a couple times around the city before we got some food."

"And let Paul's imprint go hungry? I'm not a moron, Cass," he shook his head, but then hit her with another grin. "Of course, if you want to eat while I drive, I definitely won't complain."

"Deal. Five bucks says they get my order wrong."

"Not with me, they won't," Collin decided, pulling into the drive-thru. And to his credit, when Collin was done, Cassie's order was exactly how she wanted it. Of course it took sending her food back three times and Collin finally stomping into the restaurant and demanding to know if he needed to make it himself to accomplish that. Cassie would have been okay with the first messed up burger, but Collin seemed determined, and it was funny seeing his cute face all scrunched up in annoyance.

Oddly enough, it made her miss Paul. Paul probably would have just handed her the first burger and told her to deal, Cassie thought with a smile.

Still she had a good time. She played with her Rubik's cube in contentment and Collin drove in contentment, making increasingly faster circles around Seattle when he realized that she wasn't going to say anything about him speeding outrageously. And then, when the sun had slipped out of the sky and it became the time of night when Cassie came _alive_, she decided that she wanted to go clubbing.

Someone had given Collin a fake ID that could have fooled even Roman, which was convenient because Cassie didn't even have to try to pay off anyone to let him in to the string of clubs. It didn't hurt that the kid looked to be around twenty-one, despite his age. Collin was a good date. He was handsome and he was funny and he didn't act weird that she was drinking when he wasn't. Inside the first club she ran into a few people she knew, and their twosome quickly became a large group of people, most of whom she'd never met before until that night. Her date was easy and friendly, and every time they were introduced to someone new, Collin talked to them almost as comfortably as she did. Cassie flirted and laughed and drank, and when that wasn't enough, when she was eyeing the increasingly packed dance floors longingly, Collin took her hand and dragged her out there, their group following at their heels.

Damn, that boy could move! It was almost as much fun watching Collin dance as it was to do it herself. He could actually juke, not that lame rubbing up on each other shit, but fast movements that had her whooping and pushing him for more. Cassie nearly cried she was laughing so hard when he tried to teach their drunken new friends the soulja boy dance, and when they got bored with that and went head to head, they had the whole club cheering for them. It was the first time Cassie had lost a crump battle in months. Finally the drinks started catching up with her, and she didn't want to play anymore, she just wanted to _dance_.

And so they did.

Collin was cool. When she settled into just losing herself to the music, he was content with that, his arm looped securely around her abdomen and his hand lightly on her hip as they danced. He never pressed, never grinded, never grabbed, he just tucked her into him and moved. Briefly she wished that he was older, because a guy who could move this well on the floor could probably do something similar between the sheets, but it didn't matter. This was good, too. It was nice of Paul to send Collin to keep her occupied tonight, she was having a lot of fun. Paul again. His name kept sliding into her head, and if she hadn't been so content in where she was and what she was doing, she might have asked Collin about his friend.

Collin was playing up the whole wolf thing too. How funny.

They danced, and she drank, and then they danced some more. She knew that she probably ought to slow down with both, the drinking didn't matter but the dancing she would pay for later, but it was so rare to have someone this skilled to partner with that she let herself enjoy it. Maybe if she didn't break him, Paul would let her borrow Collin again some other time. Somewhere along the line she had consumed one or two or five shots too many, and when dancing became impossible and walking improbable, Collin decided to call it a night. He was such a nice guy. He didn't make fun of her at all, even when she ended up nearly eating sidewalk on her way out of the car when they got home. Jonathan had been there to catch her, because Jonathan was always there to catch her. He was a nice guy too.

"Damn Cass, you're completely wasted, aren't you?" Collin chuckled as she leaned drunkenly into Jonathan's side. "Don't worry, man, I've got her."

Why would Jonathan be worried? Cassie didn't know, but she did know that the ground spun slightly as she was hefted up onto Collin's back, his hands bracing her under her knees and her arms wrapped loosely around his neck.

"You're tall, Collin," Cassie murmured drunkenly, giggling when he had to duck so that her head didn't bump the elevator entrance. "Why are we going home already?"

"Because it's nearly three in the morning, sweetie," he told her. Cassie buried her face against the back of his neck, absently wondering why his skin was so hot. Maybe it was just her.

"So? Wanna go find another party?" she asked as the elevator took them both up to her floor.

"Cass, you're a party all in yourself," Collin chuckled. "I can't believe someone your size can hold that much liquor."

"Practice, baby, practice. It's all in the hips." For some reason that made her laugh, and she was still laughing when Collin paused in front of her hotel room door.

"Where's your key card?" Collin asked suddenly, realizing that they were locked out. "Was it in your purse?"

"I had a purse?" Cassie couldn't remember. "Maybe I left it in the car?" The huge man holding her up sighed and turned around, but there was Jonathan. He was a little fuzzy and looked short from her vantage from Collin's back, but the blue lump in his hands was most definitely a purse. Maybe it was hers. The world spun, and Cassie pressed her face once more into Collin's neck, his broad shoulders muffling the words the valet was saying. If Cassie didn't know better, she would say that Jonathan sounded angry. Collin however seemed his normal casual self.

"I appreciate it, dude," Collin was saying, his own voice firm, "but no offense, I don't know you either. You're just gonna have to trust that I won't mess with her, because I'm _not_ going to trust you not to."

"Jonathan doesn't mess withme," Cassie felt obligated to say, her words starting to slur together. "Hesmyfriend."

"After tonight I think everyone's your friend, Cassie."

"Yeahbutheactuallyis," Cassie slurred heavier, and the world began spinning a little faster. "Water. IthinkIneedwater."

"You need detox, Cass," Jonathan mumbled, and he must be standing closer because she could hear him now. "I can't believe you assholes always let her get so drunk. Fuck with her and you'll have some problems, man," Jonathan growled, and then he was gone.

"Byefriend," Cassie said happily as Collin tried to fish her key card out of her purse with one hand, and she started to slip slowly down his back. "ByeCollin," she added, giggling a little more with each inch.

"You gotta at least try and hang on," Collin chided her, but he sounded amused when she just giggled louder. Collin hooked her off his back with one arm and held her propped against his side as he rifled through her passport, her wallet, three hundred dollars worth of designer makeup, a Rubik's cube, and two tampons. "Damn, Cass, what _don't_ you girls keep in these things? Oh, here it is."

This tended to be the hardest part of the evening, but since the door lock was standing still for Collin, unlike for Cassie, he was able to use the key to easily open the door. Walking wasn't much of an option anymore, so Collin stuck his foot in the doorway, scooped her up, and carried her inside. Cassie was half asleep by the time she was laid gently on top of her bed, and it was merely instinct on her part to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him. Paul's friend allowed it only so long as it took to carefully disengage her arms from his neck.

"None of that, sweetie," he told her gently. "Not with me at least."

"You don't like me, Collin?" she asked sadly, and he tapped her nose with one finger.

"Half pint, I had more fun with you tonight then I can remember having lately," he smiled, kissing her forehead. "And I get to have a lot of fun. But we both know that Paul wouldn't take too kindly to me hooking up with his girl. Where's your aspirin? You're going to be hurting tomorrow without some."

"Bathroom, left hand drawer," she mumbled.

"You're gonna have to say that again, Cass," Collin chuckled. "Your accent gets thick when you're drunk."

She stuck her tongue out at him and repeated herself, trying to remember to enunciate precisely. It kind of worked, and Collin left her to go get the painkillers and a glass of water. The room was warm and she was still sweaty from dancing all night, so Cassie didn't think twice about stripping off her dress. Out of respect for Collin's wishes, she kept her bra and panties on, although Collin still paused in the doorway, staring at her as she lay draped along the bedding. Blue lace tended to halt even the heartiest of men. Despite her drunkenness, Cassie knew when she had a guy's attention, and she winked at Collin as she wiggled deeper into the comforter and crossed her booted legs at the knees.

"You sure, Collin?" Cassie asked, giving him a seductive smile, and Collin groaned audibly as he handed her the glass of water and sat down next to her. He took one of her spare pillows and placed in lengthwise down her torso to cover her up.

"Yes, dead sexy drunk girl on the bed. Unfortunately, I am sure," Collin told her as he shook out two aspirin and gave them to her to swallow. "Unofficial Pack rules, don't try to mess with your brother's girl, and if she's an imprint, absolutely hands off."

Interestingly enough, he was currently hands on as he pulled her legs across his lap, working on unzipping her boots. She didn't like people seeing her feet, but she was trashed and she forgot to tell him that. Collin pulled both boots from her legs, and then he took her right foot in his hand, peering down at it briefly before rubbing the arch of her foot. Cassie groaned and buried herself into the bedding. The room was still moving a little, but Cassie simply closed her eyes.

"Hmm, feels good," she murmured happily. "I'm glad I didn't break you."

"Hey, Cass? How long did you dance ballet?" Collin asked her curiously, and Cassie's eyes opened in surprise. When he saw her expression, Collin chuckled. "There's not a lot of things that can do this much permanent damage to someone's toes. I'm not _that_ uncultured."

"My second and third toes were too long," Cassie mumbled. "Stupid toes. Stupid pointe. Stupid Bolshoi."

"Ahh. I knew I had seen you somewhere before now. Finish your water, sweetie, then get some sleep."

"Mmkay." She did as he asked while he lightly rubbed her other foot, then Cassie curled up contentedly around her pillow. He tucked the blankets over top of her, and left another full glass of water next to the bed. Collin had a funny expression on his face as he touched hers lightly, brushing a clump of hair off of her cheek as she closed her eyes again.

"Everything's gonna be okay now, Cass," he promised her softly, his masculine voice soothing her off to sleep. "The Pack, we've got you now."

Silly Collin, still playing the wolf thing. Didn't he know that was her and Paul's game? She thought about teasing him, thought about saying that she was a vampire, or maybe a zombie. Yeah, a zombie was good. She should tell him that.

Smiling, Cassie fell asleep instead.

* * *

The dark grey wolf was lounging on the edge of the Olympic National Park, waiting for his Packmate patiently. It was unnecessary to go all the way to Seattle quite yet, not when there was another Pack member with his imprint, and here he was positioned most effectively to get to her or to his Pack in case either one needed him. Plus Collin had been snapping photos of him and Cassie having fun all night and texting them to Paul, so Paul knew Collin was taking his time taking care of Paul's now drunken imprint. That was nice of Collin, although they both knew that Paul would have killed him if he hadn't bothered.

Paul's wolf didn't like this. It wanted to be with their mate, not let another wolf be there, but Paul was okay right where they were at. He had just met Cassie, and he thought that he might like her, but there was no need to rush anything with her. It was not his style. It was about four in the morning when Collin finally walked up to where Paul was waiting, and it was odd that Collin was still human and not phased. He smelled of sweat and people and Cassie. Collin gave Paul a strange look, coughing uncomfortably.

"Hey man," he said quietly, shifting back and forth on his feet. His scent said that he was really unhappy, and he exhaled explosively. "Listen, Paul. You need to know something, so I'm just gonna come out and say it. Damn…okay. Here's the deal. Your girl's a washed-up Russian ballerina with enough painkillers in her bathroom to drop a horse. I went to get her some aspirin, and found a whole drawer full of them."

Paul blinked.

Collin sighed. "Most of the bottles didn't look all that legal, but I can't read Russian so I don't really know. Shit, man. I was watching her pretty close tonight, and she was drinking heavily, but I didn't see her pop anything. Cass is cool as hell, and she's really fun to hang out with, but yeah…I was tempted to flush all that shit down the drain, but I don't know if she actually needs it or not. I hope she doesn't need it. But then that's even more fucked up, huh?" Collin looked at the ground sadly, scuffing his shoe against the dirt. "Sorry dude. I just thought you should know."

Paul said nothing, his wolf inside him was quiet as they processed that. Collin nodded once before stripping and phasing so he could go home. Paul was still processing as the moon slipped away, leaving way for the sun to follow in its tracks. The wolf wanted to be with their mate, wanted to smell her skin and curl around her, keeping her safe and warm and happy. The wolf wanted her, needed her, craved her. The wolf loved her already. But the wolf wasn't Paul.

Silently Paul rose to his feet and padded back home.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N Okay, you guys might hate it, but I _loved_ writing this chapter. Such awesome, huge, detailed reviews from the last chapter, you guys rock! (does the review booty shake) Thanks to _LightIsPrecious, Jacobleah, hilja, Buffyk0604, KerryH, mcc3654, EnglishVoice, Ashes-Of-Grey, ally leigh, PinkAzn, toalli, Miss Bear, _and_ The bunny always dies first_ for the feedback. As long as you guys are enjoying it, I'll keep pumping these chapters out as fast as I can. :)

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Three

The sound of running water pulled her from her dreams.

Cassie came awake slowly, the heavy window draperies keeping the midday sun from her eyes. The only illumination in the room was the red glowing numbers on her alarm clock and the narrow strip of white light coming from under the bathroom door. The last thing she remembered with any sort of clarity from the night before was having her tipsy self tipped onto her bed, with a muscular red head joining her. It hadn't been bad but it hadn't been great, and even she had failed in managing to keep things spiced up. Faking it had made an awkward situation a little less awkward, especially when he had collapsed back on the bed, a job well done indeed, and had promptly passed out. That was the last time she went to an Irish pub for kicks on a weeknight just for a change of scenery.

And apparently he was in her shower. That never boded well.

It wasn't that Cassie begrudged anyone a shower. It was a nice shower and she didn't mind sharing. But if Irish pub guy was comfortable enough showering without asking her permission, then he might try and do the whole 'day after' thing, and to be frank, he hadn't earned it. What he had earned was a partial high five and a gentle shove out the door. Glancing down at herself, Cassie sighed. There were ways around this, but they weren't very nice, and she never wanted to hurt anyone's feelings.

As she sat up in bed and stretched, wiggling her toes the way she did every morning, an off-pitched baritone voice rose up from the other room. Cassie winced. Singing in her shower was _definitely_ not a good sign, because it expressed a level of comfort on his part that she wasn't comfortable with. She was going to have to run this one out. It was disappointing too, because there had been a very specific reason that Cassie had brought him home. Irish was the absolute opposite of a guy that she seemed unable to keep out of her head, one that was tanner and sexier and smarter and probably could sing better too. So much for trying to get Paul out of her system, here she was already thinking about him. Stupid boy for not calling. Stupider her for even dwelling on it.

Cassie cast about for what she could do to make herself as unappealing as possible. It wasn't exactly easy, but by the time Irish had finished belting out his songs and scrubbing himself squeaky clean, Cassie was on stage and ready to be disliked.

Personally she had thought that lounging about in an old torn up t-shirt, freshly applied smudged eyeliner, and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth was clever. She had also thought that the messy hair and un-brushed teeth were masterful. The can of Cheez Whiz with a half chewed piece of gum stuck to the rim took this to an art form, even though she inwardly cringed every time she squirted a fresh glob on her tongue. Crack whore chic, her friend Gerritt liked to call it, having been present the last time she had been forced to do this. Cassie had even poured out half the bottle of '59 chardonnay she had gotten a week ago, settling it against her hip as she sprawled unladylike in the media room, watching Oprah. No man in the world liked Oprah, at least not the ones that slept over. She certainly wouldn't be attracted to herself like this, and she liked almost everybody, so there was a pretty good chance Irish wouldn't be either. That'll teach him about sneaking out before she woke up, like all the polite and civilized people did.

When the red head walked out of her bedroom stark ass naked and headed to the fridge to get a bottle of beer, Cassie realized that her beau was taking this to a whole new level. She should've bolted when she had the chance. When he grinned at her cheekily before hooking her cigarette out of her mouth, taking a long drag before handing to back to her, Cassie was concerned. And when he dropped down on the couch, scratching his chest and declaring that Oprah was one fine educated woman, well then she knew she was in trouble. And she might possibly have to burn that couch.

Crack whore chic disappeared faster than it had arrived, and Cassie jumped up off the chair, putting some distance between herself and Irish's leprechauns.

"Okay, well, gosh. I had fun last night," Cassie said perkily, putting out the cigarette that had not made it back into her mouth. "But you know what they say about too much fun, right? Yep. Can't be having that. Wow, those are some naked body parts on my couch. I bet I could help you find some clothes if you'd like. Or a robe or a towel, heck I might even have some bathing suits that just might fit you. Tight is the new right, so they say. Gosh. Yeah. You're _really_ going to have to get your balls off my furniture, or I'm going to have to be morally obligated to pay the hotel for a replacement."

"That's not what you said last night, baby doll. You were all into it," Irish grinned over at her naughtily, and Cassie shuddered when he winked at her and added, "So, do you always get that crazy or am I a special case?"

She had never met a man that could wink while naked on a couch and successfully pull it off.

"Gee, you know, you're right," Cassie chirped, tossing the Cheez Whiz into the fridge with the gum still attached. "Isn't that just stereotypical female behavior? They'll say all sorts of sweet things to lure you in and then bam! All they want to do is use you for the sex. Women are suck jerks, huh?"

He seemed confused, so he drained his beer to help.

"I used you for sex, honey," Cassie said gently, and at his slightly hurt expression she sighed and added not quite truthfully, "And you were great! A real A-list kind of time. But if you don't mind, I kind of had things to do, people to see, couches to purchase. Maybe we can call it a night? Morning? Noontime? Maybe? Hopefully…pretty please?"

Irish stretched, smiling smugly, and she had the feeling that he had checked out of the conversation after she had said the word 'great'. "Naw, I was thinking about taking you out on the town, pretty lady. Until then we can hang out here and order room service. Sweet place, babe. Let's make the most of it."

He turned back to the television and then laughed as Tom Cruise began hopping up and down on Oprah's couch. "Look at that little bugger bouncing around. Wired mother fucker, ain't he? Hey babe, can you get me another beer? And the phone too. I've got some buddies that would love this place."

"I'm sorry?"

"Let's throw a party, party girl. Unless you want to have another one of our own," Irish suggested, waggling his red eyebrows as he grinned salaciously at her. Then he scratched again, not his chest, and grinned even bigger, beckoning at her with one finger.

She shouldn't have been surprised. Crack whore chic had crashed and burned the last time she had tried it, but at least then she had ended up with a Paris view, a bisexual runway model named Sunni, and some killer crepes. Cassie was pretty sure that Irish had never had a killer crepe. The chardonnay was a little too pricey to be slugging straight from the bottle, but at least the bottle in front of her eyes blocked out the view of one of her most recent bad ideas.

Cassie wiped her mouth off and cringed. She could call hotel security, but that wasn't very nice. Or she could just leave for the day and find something else to do. Maybe she could call Paul and they could do something? Or maybe not. After all, he hadn't called her in four days now, so he was probably over it. And she was pretty sure she knew why. Sighing, Cassie grabbed a blanket and threw it at Irish's lap, and then she settled back down on her chair to watch Oprah. It was going to be a long day. Stupid boys. Stupid balls. Stupid Tom Cruise.

Wow…he really could bounce, couldn't he?

* * *

Paul was laid out on his front lawn, on his back with his arms folded behind his head and staring at the clouds as they slowly slipped past overhead. The world was quiet, at least as quiet as the reservation ever got when everything was safe. A bird was trilling its song in one of the crabapple trees behind his house, a rabbit had braved hopping within eyesight so that it could nibble at the fresh spring grass, and somewhere off to the south a wild hog was idly snuffing his way along the patrol routes. The breeze was lightly brushing his bare feet and torso, and it was one of those days that just made you smile and be happy that you were alive.

That was as long as you weren't a shape shifting wolf imprinted on a miniscule Russian sex fiend.

Paul thought back to when he was a little kid, back when he used to go out on his uncle's fishing boat every spare chance he had gotten, about how he loved to lay barefoot on the bow with his feet dangling over the side. The rocking of the boat had been soothing, like a porch swing, and the spray of the cold Pacific water across his toes had contrasted nicely with the heat of the sun browning his skin. Those were good days, easy days, when the hardest decisions that Paul had to make was whether or not to take the trash out when asked by his mother or if he could get away with teasing his sisters in front of his father.

These days, life wasn't quite so simple.

His parents were long gone, off chasing jobs away from the reservation that might help their children have something better than a life lived poor and struggling. They had tried to bring Paul with them but he had stayed, living with his uncle and aunt until he had come of age. La Push was his home and he would make the best of it that he could. The land was etched into his blood far deeper than it was in theirs, and while his sisters had been ecstatic to get off the rez, considering a life anywhere else filled Paul with an inexplicable pain. He couldn't comprehend living without his Pack, he didn't even want to. Even now the urge was there to go find one of them, even if it was just to sit in Jared's living room and listen to him and Kim squabble over paint colors and pillow cases and all those normal things that mattered so much. He wanted to be with them, his friends, his Pack. The one he wanted to be with the most, however, was the only one that he wasn't going to be seeing.

It had been four days. Four long days and nights of wondering and thinking and second guessing himself. Four days of running to Seattle just to come back, of going to her door and almost knocking before turning around and leaving. Four days of knowing that while he was twisted up into knots, lost and confused by this imprint, she was off living large with whomever she wanted. Emily had told him that he just needed to suck it up and go talk to her, that he would feel better if he did, and Sam had said Paul was being stupid in hiding from his imprint. Jared had thought it was okay that he was dragging his feet about this, as long as he didn't drag it out too long, but Kim had just gotten annoyed at him hanging around, called him a mopey moron, and had thrown another shoe. She liked to do that.

Cassie hadn't called. Neither had he. However Paul had learned that in being apart from his imprint, he was liable to throw up regularly without much warning, have his body racked with nervous tremors that left him disoriented and shaking, and that he was a tad bit grumpy. Although Paul didn't know what his Pack was complaining about, he hadn't bitten any of them _that_ hard.

He didn't like the whole drug thing. Not at all. But Paul had chosen to refrain from deciding about it until he had more information. He repeated that to himself multiple times a day, and he repeated that to his friends multiple times a day, and he was kind of starting to feel like his Pack was avoiding him. Maybe Seth throwing him out of patrol and telling him to go home, get some sleep, and for goodness sake _eat something_ had clued him in. Whatever. Paul would try. Maybe tomorrow, though, because eating was usually followed by throwing up and he was over that today.

He was off his feed. The sky was falling. The world was flat. The universe was no longer expanding, it was retracting instead. Everything was upside down and inside out. It was all very confusing. Possibly it was just him.

Paul groaned and rubbed his face, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again. The clouds above were shaped like turtles and short fat vampires. Paul figured that should tell him something about himself, but he was too miserable to attempt personal enlightenment. Not today. Maybe tomorrow for that, too.

Why couldn't he have had the tiny beautiful imprint that adored him on first sight with no other complications to speak of? Kind of like an imprint poster he could tack up on his wall, one that he could point at and say, see? That's mine. Cool huh? And then go about his life as normal. Normal had disappeared a week ago, and he was still trying to decide if imprinting was the kind of thing one could take a sideline on. Maybe he could just protect her from afar and leave it at that. But Cassie was like crack for his wolf, and he couldn't get anywhere close to her without his wolf wanting another fix.

He dreamed at night of blue lace and being a pillow. Thanks Collin. Thanks a whole lot.

The clouds were shaped like turtles and short fat vampires and now cheeseburgers. Probably because Embry's old truck was rumbling up the dirt drive, and the smell of cooked meat was permeating his senses. Paul sniffed, and he realized that Embry's girlfriend was alone in the truck. That was kind of odd. Sims and he had only spoken a few times, and she had never been to his place, so Embry must have told her how to get there. Paul knew it was a little rude that he didn't get up for her when she stopped the truck off to the side, but he was having a moment here, and it was slightly encumbering his normal sense of the appropriate. He did however turn his head and watch her get out of the truck, a large white and orange paper bag in her hand.

Sims wasn't his type, but that didn't mean that Paul couldn't see why she had Embry so hooked. She was a strong, fit girl and her face could be pretty when she smiled, although Embry didn't seem to realize that she almost only smiled at him and no one else. Seth and Leah had been known to get a smile or two, but that was all. Sims was a lot like Leah in demeanor, both of them walked into a room with the kind of confidence that made you wonder if maybe this girl really could kick your ass. In Leah's case it was true. But what Emb loved about her the most was that Sims needed him, needed only him, and was focused on only him. That's where she was different than Cassie. Cassie didn't need Paul at all. Cass was just playing battleship and Paul was the little two peg boat, not worth really trying to sink when there were other bigger boats to aim for.

Sonofabitch.

Sims walked over to Paul slowly, and when she saw that he was looking at her, she hefted up the bag a little. "Can I sit?" Sims asked. "I brought a peace offering."

"I didn't realize that we were in a war," Paul grunted, his stomach rolling as the smell of buttered bread and cheese hit his nostrils. Sims snorted and plopped down next to him, folding her legs beneath her as she settled the bag between them.

"No, but Embry suggested I bring these and bribe seemed like the wrong word."

"Ah."

Paul turned his face back to the sky and Sims sat silently. They stayed that way for a while, and Paul breathed in the quiet solitude that was Sims. Maybe that was why Embry liked her so much. She could actually shut up now and then. But maybe he didn't like quiet as much as he thought because after about five minutes Paul finally caved.

"Sims? Why are you here?"

"Because you're supposedly nicer to girls than guys and I drew the short straw."

Well. There it was. He waited for more explanation and when it didn't come, he sighed and propped himself up on his elbows.

"And?" he rumbled, trying to be polite. Embry was pretty damn volatile right now so they all tried to be polite to Emb's girl.

"And they thought that maybe you needed to talk to a female. Seth wasn't sure that Leah counted," Sims smirked a little at that. "But what the hell am I supposed to know about any of this? I'm not an imprint, so sending me is kind of pointless. But Embry has been worried about you so I offered."

"You offered to face the wrath that is Paul?" he chuckled quietly.

"So it seems."

Silence again for awhile. Gods, talking to this girl was like picking teeth and it was a little annoying. If she didn't have anything to say then she should leave him be. But instead of leaving, Sims just sat there. Eventually she dug through the bag and pulled out a small salad that looked like it wouldn't have fed the nearby rabbit satisfactorily. She must have thought so too because she sighed before munching on it without much interest. Sims smelled faintly like lavender, and a lot like Embry. It was kind of soothing. She wasn't Pack but the scent of Pack was close. Although Emb didn't always have to make sure she smelled _this_ heavily of him, it was a little embarrassing.

It was hard because there was a general consensus in the Pack that meeting Sims had been a turning point for Embry and not a good one. Since dating her Emb had grown increasingly hard on himself and the Pack, and there wasn't a single one of them that wasn't tired of hearing him repeat her name in his head like a fucking lunatic. But it kind of sucked because as far as Paul could tell, the girl wasn't doing anything to cause it. She wasn't saying or doing things to twist Embry up into these tangles of crazy, she was just a girl who liked a guy, and she was trying to make it work between them. Unfortunately her boyfriend was growing a little more off each day, and she had the bad timing of coming around when it had started happening, so it looked like her fault even if it wasn't. But maybe it was, who knew?

As he said before, nothing was simple these days.

"I down Tylenol like they're candy," Sims suddenly said between forkfuls of her salad. "Now that I've started training for real again, there's not a day that something doesn't hurt. Doc Cullen wrote me a prescription after that leech thing that Embry sometimes still makes me take, because it bugs him if I get too sore after practice." She swallowed a bite and then smirked. "Quil probably hates me because I spend so much time in their shower using up all the hot water, but it's either soak the pain off or try to find something stronger."

Paul watched her finish her salad and then look longingly at the burgers. "Sometimes it sucks trying to be an athlete, and I'm only now really trying to do it right." Sims stood up and stretched, leaving the bag of burgers at his side as she yawned. "Can you imagine how much a _lifetime_ of being an athlete could mess you up? I bet it's a bitch. But hey, we all gotta do what we've gotta do." Then she smiled at him, a tiny little smile that made her normal features finally pretty. "After all, Collin says that Bolshoi's some pretty hardcore stuff. I'll see you later, Paul."

And that was all she was contributing on the matter. Paul watched her walk away, worn jeans and scuffed sneakers, her hair in a messy ponytail and her shirt a little too threadbare. Embry's whole fucking world.

The imprint was an obligation that twisted itself up into his emotions, but Paul wondered what that would be like to be like Embry. To look at a girl and decide for himself that she was it. She was the one. Paul smiled and shook his head, watching Sims start the truck and roll away. Maybe she _was_ turning Embry into a lunatic, but maybe that's just what girls did. Paul wolfed down the ten cheeseburgers he found in the bag, thinking about his imprint. Cassie sure as hell had thrown him for a loop, although up until four days ago he had thought he was keeping up with her.

Maybe he had taken the wrong approach on this whole thing. Maybe sitting around punishing himself for his indecisions over a forced obligation that he just happened to maybe slightly sadistically enjoy was stupid. Just because he was an imprinted wolf, didn't mean that he wasn't still a person too, and he deserved to have a choice of who he kept in his life. He'd never know if Cass was someone who should be in or out if he stayed away from her, and he'd never find out why she did the things she did. Kim was right. He was being a mopey moron.

And then, because his stomach had stopped rolling and things didn't seem quite as bad as they had ten burgers and a Sims ago, Paul stood up and went to go find his imprint.

* * *

When he found her, Cassie was sitting outside her hotel room on the carpeted hallway floor, leaning back against the wall with her legs crossed and a book in her hands.

Paul stepped out of the elevator and paused, sucking in a deep breath as the smell of his imprint filled his nostrils. This was only the third time that he had been this close to her and once again he was overcome with just how tiny she was, especially when he was standing and she was sitting. Why exactly was she sitting out here? There were noises coming through her closed door, and Paul's nose picked up at least five or six separate scents in there.

Why the _hell_ was his imprint out _here_?

Cassie looked up from her book and when she saw who it was, she smiled warmly at him. "Hello handsome," she chuckled. "And here I thought that my soul mate didn't want me anymore. I was waiting for a call that never came."

Paul ignored that, focusing on the sounds and the smells of her hotel room. Five guys and two girls were inside, and there was alcohol and cursing and drunken laughter. People, strangers, men. His wolf didn't like that, and for once Paul was in agreement. He dropped down to his heels in front of her, although he still was several inches taller than her like this. She smelled like a shower, and apples, and mild annoyance. She smelled like mate, and his, and he wasn't happy. Not at _all_.

"You have five seconds to give me a good reason why you're out here," he told her flatly, and Cassie grinned up at him.

"Or what?" she asked teasingly, sticking her finger in her book to mark the page before closing it. Despite her annoyance she seemed relaxed, and the loose boat neck t-shirt and shorts were the most casual thing he'd seen her wear. Her short furry Ugg boots reminded him of overgrown slippers, and he might have teased her about them if his temper wasn't rapidly rising.

"Or they will be leaving whether you want them to or not," Paul decided with a growl. She was in the hall. On the floor. She had been run out of her home, and that seriously pissed him off. That was her territory, and like hell he was gonna let anyone take it from her.

"Balls."

"I'm sorry?"

"There were naked balls on my couch. Did you know that drunken Irish men reproduce asexually? One minute there's only one of them and then the next, poof! Two drunken Irish men where only one had stood previously. Binary fission, it's a beautiful thing. Of course, add alcohol into the mix, and the next thing you know you have a whole mess of hot and stinky primordial Irish soup slopping around onto your carpets and your furniture, and thank god for cleaning services, right?" She shrugged as if it was nothing and looked at the cover of her book. "Have you ever read Utopia, Paul? I did before in a Russian translation, and I'm really trying here to re-read it in English, but I'm getting stuck in all this pre-Utopia crap. Really, who needs a hundred pages talking about Thomas More before you read his work? The work should speak for the author, shouldn't it?"

Paul opened his mouth to say something, but then the door opened. It was a now partially clothed Irish. "Hey baby doll, you wanna-"

That was as far as he got. Paul was on his feet and in Irish's face, a deep growl rumbling from his throat as he stood between this stranger and his imprint.

"Probably not," Cassie yawned, opening her book back up and re-crossing her legs in front of her. She seemed oblivious to Paul's anger. "You go back inside and play, okay? Paul, you never answered my question. Have you ever read Utopia? I wish I knew more Latin because I'm pretty sure that some of this is getting lost in translation."

"Did they run you out, Cass?" Paul asked in a low dangerous voice, and Cassie smiled at him. Irish stared up drunkenly at Paul, trying to decide if backing up slowly might be a smarter option than taking a swing.

"Not really. I just didn't want to hang. Paul, could you either pick in or out please? If you don't shut the door, you'll let flies in." Paul blinked at that and glanced at Cassie. She was grinning at him playfully, not seeming distressed in the least, so he did as she asked and shut the door. Hard. It might have broken Irish's face a little.

"Ouch. I did nicely ask him to leave earlier, but he wanted to throw a little shindig," Cassie said absently as she read, and Paul grunted, dropping down on the floor next to her, between her and the door. There was some cursing inside, and when the door made to open, Paul simply grabbed the handle and held it closed. Cassie glanced at him with a smug little grin. "Is the protective territorialism part of normal lupine soul mate behavioral patterns, or is it just a Paul thing?"

He didn't answer her but he did mumble, "Sorry I didn't call."

"Hmm? It's fine. I figured you got ticked off that I was flirting with Collin and you were over it. Or maybe Collin rooted around in my drawers when he was getting me aspirin, and you thought I was a druggie and was over it. But see? Here you are, and here I am, and life is beautiful and wonderful all the same. And we don't even need governmentally enforced social equality or solid gold chamber pots to pull it off."

Cassie met Paul's eyes boldly, and it disturbed him to realize that within moments of being around her, Cassie had laid it all on to the table for him to examine. She wasn't hiding a thing. He wasn't ready for that yet, wasn't ready to decide about her yet, so he tapped her book with his finger.

"Gold chamber pots, huh? That's weird. I haven't read Utopia, but I read Brave New World in high school," Paul rumbled. "It kind of screwed with my head."

"Yeah the guy hanging at the end was a little freaky. But I think I would have done well in that society," Cassie decided, and then she laughed, shaking her head. "And not because of the sex either, before you make any Malthusian belt jokes. I just like people, and I want to be around them. I like the idea of a society where everyone is encouraged to be around each other."

"And then get stoned and have orgies," Paul said dryly.

"And here I thought Kim said you only stayed awake for history in high school," Cassie teased. "I think you're taking the story too literally, Paul. They were behaviorally conditioned to get stoned and have orgies, as you put it, and in our society we've been behaviorally conditioned to do the opposite. It's not so much about what they're doing so much as it is about following social norms, and choosing which ones are right for you as an individual. Social norms tell me to not sleep around, because then I'm a _**slut**_," Cassie lowered her voice to a stage whisper, as she said the word, she pretended to be scandalized. "And social norms tell you not to say you're a shape shifting wolf, because then you are _**crazy**_." She waggled her eyebrows at him, making a cute little face. "And yet those are the norms we have personally chosen to ignore and it sets us apart as individuals. Personally I think it gives us more depth as human beings. I think I'm kind of hungry."

Paul tilted his head to the side and thought about what she'd said. "Cass, using classic literature to validate your bad habits is silly. Read enough books and you'll find something somewhere that some loser said that makes anything acceptable. Just because an old famous dead dude said it's okay to have an orgy doesn't make it okay."

"My point exactly! Behavioral and social conditioning. Who knew that my soul mate would be such a smart guy?" she smiled at him impishly. "Plus there's such a bad connotation on the word orgy. It doesn't have to be group sex; it can simply be an over-indulgence of emotion. Haven't you ever taken an emotion to an extreme just because it was so enjoyable? If you surrounded yourself with love, and loved back with everything you had, so much that you were overwhelmed, couldn't that be an orgy too? I'd orgy out on love or acceptance or kindness any day of the week. Besides, Paul, ours might be far from a utopian society, and not everyone wants to hop on board with Huxley's Fordism, but you can at least pull positives from each."

"You're an optimist, Cass," Paul noted, liking the fact that his imprint was scooting a little closer without her tiger claws coming into play. Instead she was searching her book for something particular, and he didn't even think she knew she was aligning herself towards him.

"I'm an everythingist, Paul," she told him absently. "I like us all and I want us all to be happy, so whatever works for each of us is all good. The everythingist movement is new, but just you watch. There'll be others jumping on board soon enough."

"You're allowed to be discriminatory about the people you bring into your life, Cass," Paul chided her gently, but she frowned slightly and shook her head.

"No, I'm not. It would be nice though." Cassie sighed and leaned into Paul's shoulder, her head resting on his bicep as she cuddled close. Paul gazed down at her, watching his imprint flip through several pages, and he thought it was adorable that she mouthed the words as she read them. He assumed that reading in English was difficult for her because it was not her first language, and he liked that she still did it. It was nice to see a different side of Cassie, and it was a side that appealed to him. The wolf didn't care, it was just happy that they were hip to hip. Mate. Cassie made a pleased noise in her throat when she found the passage she'd been looking for.

"Listen to this; it's about King Utopus, the uber guy in charge of Utopia, and it's something that's always kind of stuck with me. 'If he could not by fair and gentle speech induce them unto his opinion, yet he should use no kind of violence, and refrain from displeasant and seditious words.'* What does that mean to you, Paul?"

He thought about it for a moment, mainly because he was trying to remember what seditious meant, and then he chuckled. "It means that we shouldn't throw the drunken idiots out of your hotel room by force or by yelling at them, even if you've nicely asked them to go."

"Exactly," she smiled at him, rubbing her cheek lightly against his bicep. "Because even though it would make us happy, it would make them unhappy, which is a little unfair of us. Non-utopian."

Paul suddenly grinned at her wolfishly as he let the rattling door loose for half a second. It opened just enough for him to slam it shut again in Irish's broken nose, making the man curse in renewed pain. "For the record, Cass, that's not the Pack's style."

"I want some ice cream," Cassie suddenly decided, snapping her book closed and holding it to her chest. She looked up at him hopefully with devastating hazel eyes, and Paul knew a lost battle when he saw one, so he took her book from her and stuck it in his back pocket.

"I want to be displeasant and seditious, but ice cream does sound good," Paul rumbled back and Cassie giggled as Paul stood and offered her a hand up. He liked how it felt having her small palm against his large one, and Paul couldn't help himself. He tugged her in close and folded her up into a gentle hug. Cassie made a happy noise in her throat and leaned against him.

"I like hugs," she murmured, and it was so soft that he thought that maybe he wasn't supposed to hear it. So his imprint liked hugs? Then he would have to hug her. There were worse things to spend a lifetime doing. It occurred to Paul in that moment that maybe it was the only thing he really knew about Cassie.

"Come on, I'll buy you an ice cream," he told her quietly, and Paul took her by the hand. She followed him as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Hotel 1000 was just down the street from Miner's Landing, Seattle's historic waterfront on Pier 57, and considering how many shops and restaurants were along the pier, it was bound to have ice cream. They walked, mainly because it didn't occur to Paul to wait for Cassie's car and she seemed content doing as he did. It was raining lightly but neither seemed to mind. She did however want to talk, because she was Cassie and Cassie always liked to talk.

"So what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you today?" She asked as they headed towards the water. She was having a bit of a hard time keeping up with his longer strides, so every couple steps she would give a playful little jump to catch up. Paul shortened his strides, but that seemed to be equally difficult because she was walking too fast for that. Cassie tried to compensate again, but by too much, and she stumbled. In trying to match each other they were failing horribly, and after about a hundred feet Paul gave up and stopped.

"You walk, Cass," Paul told her, slightly exasperated. "I'll keep up, I promise."

"I'm not really this clumsy," she grinned, looking a touch embarrassed as they continued walking.

"Sure sure," he teased her and when she stuck her tongue out at him, he hooked her hand again and pulled her towards him, their hips bumping. This time it was better, and he would be lying if he said he didn't like having her tucked close to his side this way.

"You never answered my question."

"My Pack thinks I'm hiding from you," Paul admitted, entwining their fingers.

"Are you?" Cassie asked, and she quirked a smile up at him. "I am pretty scary, Paul, so I can completely understand," she joked and Paul shook his head.

"You have no idea, Cass," he muttered. "You might just be the most terrifying woman in existence."

That seemed to amuse her, and she got a predatory gleam in her eye that he recognized. Before she could open her mouth Paul had pulled her to the curb, and he sank down on a bus stop bench, his arm loosely around her hips as he looked up at her pleadingly.

"Please Cass, don't go there," Paul asked softly. "That's not what I want from you, and it'll ruin things. Just spend the day with me like this, like normal. We can flirt and we can kiss and we can get ice cream, but please don't try to make me a conquest. I don't want that."

Cassie seemed surprised, but then she nodded, and she smiled again. "Okay. As long as I get ice cream. And the kisses, I'll hold you to them too, Paul," she teased lightly but he saw something in her eyes, a flash of hurt, of rejection. Instinct guided his arm tighter around her waist and he drew her up closer, tipping her head down with his hand so that he could brush his lips across hers. She didn't kiss him back until he was about to pull away, but then she followed, wrapping her arms around his neck as he tugged her onto his leg. The wolf was pleased, liked the faint scent of arousal drifting up off of her skin, unlike last time. She liked him. He was thinking that maybe he was beginning to like her too. The wolf fucking _loved_ her.

"Paul?" she asked as his lips moved of their own accord to her jaw, her temple, the tiny mole beneath her left ear. Her. All of her. His arms tightened again.

"Hmm?" God, she smelled good. Now if he could just get his scent on her too without becoming as meaningless as all those other men, he thought as he nuzzled his nose down her neck. His imprint had the slimmest, most delicate neck. Maybe he could get her to wear turtle necks to keep everything away from it. Or maybe he could wrap her in bubble wrap, or maybe titanium…

"You're kind of squishing me, Paul," Cassie admitted, and Paul pulled out of his imprint induced haze. He had drawn Cassie flush against him, a hand dangerously low on her hip and his other arm crushing her to his chest. Paul released her immediately, although he kept his hand on her hip.

"Sorry, Cass," he murmured, inhaling deeply again and tracing light circles on her hipbone. She was breakable. He couldn't forget that. "It's hard because I'm really strong, and the imprint…I'm sorry, I'll do better," he promised softly, and she gave him a searching look.

"Paul, I like you," Cassie told him gently. "You don't actually have to keep up the whole wolf thing."

He was quiet for a moment while the wolf declared absolute ownership of Cassie. It had her admittance of her affection now, and it snarling possessively at every man that walked by. Paul shushed it and sent it away so that he could concentrate. "But what if it were true, Cass?" Paul asked quietly. "What if it weren't a game?"

She stared at him and for a moment she looked really sad. "Then I would say that fate should have given you better," she whispered, but then she shook her head and laughed. "Or maybe you really are crazy, Paul. Come on, I want my ice cream."

"We can't always get what we want," he told her simply, but he helped her up and rose to his own feet. When he reached full height, the pair of teenagers that had been watching them with interest quickly looked away. Cassie chuckled at that, and then smiled up at him.

"Says who?" Her face brightened. "I really want chocolate chip cookie dough. Do you think they'll have chocolate chip cookie dough?"

"Nope."

"Really?" she asked in dismay, and then growled at him when he grinned at her. "You're so mean to me! What's the point of having a soul mate if they're just going to be mean to you?"

"You can take it," he decided as he led her to a little ice cream vendor by the railing.

"Yeah well, you're a big, lumbering jack-oooh, cookie dough! Score!"

Even though she had declared that she wanted cookie dough, Paul watched Cassie lean over the cart, inspecting every flavor option and weighing the pros and cons of each. He waited patiently, keeping one eye on her and one on the crowds around them. Seattle was busy all the time, and while he could see how it would fit his imprint's upbeat and hyperactive personality, he personally preferred La Push. Even now he missed his Pack, didn't like being so far away that he couldn't be there instantly if they needed him. Maybe Cassie was right about that whole over-indulgence of emotion thing, of being surrounded by love and acceptance and kindness. That was Pack. When she finally realized that everything was real, if she still accepted him, Paul could tell that Cassie was going to love being Pack. She needed attention and affection more than anyone he had ever met, and that was what Pack was all about. And she also needed to make a decision because he was getting bored himself.

Ten minutes later, when she was still undecided between cookie dough and cookies 'n cream, Paul finally told the vendor to give her both and to stop staring at her.

Twelve minutes later Cassie was happily bopping along the pier, blissfully licking her ice cream cone, and as the wolf raged inside of him Paul decided that they were never doing this again. If she got this much attention eating ice cream in shorts and a t-shirt, then he didn't want to know what Collin had been forced to counteract when she was dancing and dressed to kill.

He probably owed Collin a pizza or two or twenty.

"I can't believe you picked vanilla," Cassie suddenly said, focusing on Paul's own cone. "That's so boring."

"No, it's not," Paul rumbled solemnly. "Your choice in foods says a lot about you, and by choosing the simple yet ever consistent vanilla bean, I am showing my steadfast dependableness and emotional stability."

Cassie licked her cone and smirked at him. "So what does mine say about me?"

"That you're a crazy girl who's lucky to be out with me. Eat your ice cream, Cass," Paul grunted, but he grabbed her hand again and once more tugged her to his side as they walked. "Want a taste of dependability?" he asked after a moment, tipping his cone her way.

"You love me," she decided, ducking in closer and licking the vanilla ice cream.

"I don't hate you, and that's a start," he replied. Cassie grinned up at him, and just when he was thinking that his girl would look a lot cuter with a dab of ice cream on her nose, the wolf walked by.

Paul went still, cursing himself for not paying better attention as he locked eyes with the other wolf. The other wolf was leaner than he was and not quite as tall, with spiky black hair and, interestingly enough, deep vibrantly blue eyes. Paul didn't recognize him, but he smelled faintly familiar. The wolf grinned at him lazily, and then without any kind of warning he was coming at them. Paul let out a snarl and twisted, getting Cassie behind him just as the wolf ended up where she had been standing only a heart's beat earlier. She yelped in surprise, her ice cream cone hitting the planking beneath their feet, and Paul pushed her backwards towards the railing, putting more distance between her and the other wolf. Paul let out a warning growl as he stepped forward. _His_. _Back off._ Eye to eye, nose to nose, so close that Paul could barely smell his imprint over the scent of this one. Wild, dangerous, but familiar. Pack. But not his own.

The wolf had the audacity to glance over at Cassie, and Paul had him by the throat, ten feet away and backpedalling fast.

"Don't look at her," Paul snarled softly. The other wolf barked out a laugh then made a yipping noise too close to the sounds Paul's Pack sometimes used to let each other know they were close. Dammit, there were more of them.

"She's nice to look at," the other wolf said with a lick of his lips, and when he said it in Quileute, it took Paul aback for a moment. The other wolf batted Paul's hand off his throat like it was nothing, and the hair on the back of Paul's neck rose. This one might be lean, but he was strong.

"Paul, what-?" Cassie started to say, and then he was moving, because the other wolf had moved, and it was too fast for anyone else to see. The sonofabitch had _lunged_ a step towards Paul's imprint before darting back to the exact same spot they had been standing in before.

Paul began shaking in fury, and it was only years of forcing control on himself that kept him from phasing right then and there. There were too many people around, the pier was packed and if he phased then innocent people were going to get hurt. The wolf yipped again before snapping his teeth and grinning at Paul, and when he angled his body towards Cassie, Paul saw red. And then the anger turned to something very different as the scent of two more wolves flooded his nostrils and the heavy weight of _Alpha_ rolled over him.

Oh god. There was an Alpha.

There were two of them coming at him. One was a slender man, small and unassuming like Jack was, and by the way that Paul couldn't quite meet his eyes, Paul knew that he was the Alpha. The second was the exact image of the wolf in front of Paul, down to the eye color and the grin. Both walked towards them from opposite sides, flanking him, and Paul's anger turned to instant panic. Oh shit, they had him _cornered_. He was outnumbered, there was an Alpha, and he was cornered. Could Cassie swim? He hoped so, because he might have just enough time to throw her off the pier before these three took him down. The wolf in front of Paul snapped his teeth a second time and took a weaving step forward. This time it was Paul backpedalling, trying to keep himself between the wolf and Cassie, when _fuck_ they were closing him in.

"Hla'o, enough," the Alpha said very softly, and the slender man turned brown eyes on Paul. "You as well."

Paul was Jacob Black's wolf, and as such he was beholden only to his own Alpha's whim. Simultaneously Jake's control put a sort of barrier around his Pack, protecting them somewhat from other more dominant wolves, but this was an Alpha and that changed things. When the Alpha spoke to Paul, it didn't command instant obedience like Jake did, but the weight of the order was still enough to feel like a brick wall had smashed down on top of Paul's shoulders and he staggered beneath it.

Hla'o dropped down a little, still holding Paul's eyes as he mimicked Paul's stagger, and then he laughed.

"Keep your feet," Hla'o and the twin wolf suggested simultaneously, their voices eerily in unison. "It's much easier to fight with your nose out of the dirt."

Paul just snarled and began shaking harder as they moved closer. He had Cassie pressed against the rail with nowhere to go, and for the first time ever Paul wished that he was like Seth and could speak to their Alpha without phasing. It had always seemed like a final breech of privacy to Paul, but he needed help and he needed it now.

"Paul? What's going on?" Cassie asked uncertainly from behind his shoulder, and then and there Paul decided that if it was keep their secret or protect her, he was protecting her. He'd die though. One against these three? This Alpha would kill him, but maybe he could buy his Pack enough time to get to her. Paul began trembling harder.

The Alpha looked at his wolf and then at Paul, and then his eyes rested on Cassie. Paul left out a strangled snarl, and if he had had anywhere to go, he would have gone. Any further back and he'd be crushing her. As it was he was so close that he could feel her breath against his shoulder blades.

"Ahh," the Alpha said, and he looked momentarily annoyed. Hla'o was still mimicking Paul's every movement, a game of sorts as he hummed lightly, and his twin was humming in cadence. The Alpha gave his wolf a disapproving look. "Perhaps you should learn to use your nose better, young one," the Alpha suggested softly to Hla'o. "Did I not teach you to behave politely around imprints?"

The twins both stopped humming, tilted their heads to the side, and then stared at Cassie. It was more than Paul could take. His limbs began shaking violently, but if he stepped forward to phase, he be leaving her open to attack, and if he stayed where he was, he risked hurting Cassie the way Emily had been hurt. Either way he was fucked.

A pressure in his head, faint and worried. What was wrong?

"Paul…" Cassie was starting to sound scared. He should say something, but he was too focused on the wolves. Could he get forward and phase and get back to her in time? His arms were vibrating rapidly and the wolf was snarling in his head to protect their mate, protect their mate, protect their mate…

Heavier pressure, what was wrong? What was _wrong_?

"I would appreciate it if you controlled yourself, Paul," the Alpha said quietly, stuffing his hands in his pockets as his words once more rolled over Paul, heavy and demanding. "For their protection, I prefer to keep my Pack out of the public's attention."

"Back the hell up then," Paul managed to snarl out. Weight, pressure, like a damn migraine tearing through his head. _Paul! What was __**wrong**__?_ Seth? _We're coming, brother_.

"Unfortunately, we can't," the Alpha decided, looking even more annoyed as he addressed his wolves. "Paul has just called his Pack. We will have to deal with this the hard way. If you will, Hla'o."

Hla'o smirked, murmuring, "Dibs on the imprint," as he shifted forward on the balls of his feet.

Paul lost it. And in that exact instant, when his mind shifted and was weakened by the upcoming change, in the moment where the body was still human but the mind became wolf, the Alpha mentally grabbed him. Horror hit Paul, washing from his heart down through his belly as this Alpha wrapped around the place in his soul that was Jacob's, cutting him away from his own Alpha. And even though Paul was not his Pack, this Alpha took control of him.

He was about to phase right then and there, but the Alpha commanded Paul to stop. So that's exactly what he did.

* * *

Cassie wasn't sure where things had gone wrong. One moment they were laughing and holding hands and the next Paul had been in the middle of a fight with some gorgeous Native American stranger. They hadn't come to blows, but by the way they had squared off, it was clear that they would. Cassie didn't understand, they hadn't even spoken, had they? But Paul had pushed her to the rail, and in keeping between her and the stranger, she hadn't been able to see what was going on. She had dropped her ice cream cone, and that made her really really disappointed. Paul had bought it for her, and she had enjoyed it, and it really sucked that now she was going to have to go get a new one. It wouldn't be the same.

Well, if Paul was insisting on getting in a fight, then that was his thing. Cassie was more focused on wiping the ice cream off her shirt in annoyance than anything else, and so she missed it when the other two men showed up. She didn't miss it when Paul sucked in a hard breath and began shaking violently, almost as if he was having a seizure, but he wasn't because he was still pressing her backwards into the railing. It was starting to scare her.

"Paul?" Cassie asked, but he didn't answer, and she didn't understand what this other guy was talking about, mostly because it was hard to see around Paul. The stranger told Paul to control himself, and there was something about Pack that Cassie really didn't understand, and then Paul went completely still. He wasn't moving at all, and the shaking in his arms and shoulders had stopped.

"What's going on?" Cassie squeezed out from behind Paul but stayed partially behind his arm as the three strangers all looked at her in unison. Creepy. "Paul? Who are they?"

He didn't say anything, but then the slender man took a step forward, the action causing Paul to weave on his feet just an instant before growing still again.

"You may speak to her, Paul." Huh? What was _that_ all about?

"I'm sorry Cassie," Paul ground out between his teeth, and it sounded like he was in pain. "I'm so sorry."

"Cassie is it? My name is Tupkuk," the slender man said and then gestured to the wolf on her right. "This is Wihl and you've already met Hla'o, Wihl's brother. As you can see, things are a bit tense, and perhaps you can help us calm everything down. I need you to call Paul's Beta, since from what we have gathered his Alpha is currently unavailable."

Cassie had no idea what he was talking about. When she blinked at Tupkuk in confusion, understanding crept into his eyes and Tupkuk inhaled deeply. He kept his gaze on Paul, but addressed Hla'o. "I'm sorry for my earlier words, brother. She is a newly acquired imprint, and his scent is not yet on her. You wouldn't have known. It explains his reaction better, newly imprinted wolves are always touchy, and the young ones more than most. The absence of his Alpha is probably not helping."

"Cass, run," Paul whispered, and Tupkuk shook his head sadly.

"I'm sorry, that's not going to be an option. Unfortunately your imprint has now become our bargaining chip. Enough talking, Paul, if you will not use it to your benefit." Tupkuk watched a shudder go through Paul, and Cassie saw his fists begin to shake. Tupkuk took a step closer. "Interesting. Your Alpha has a long reach. I wonder if he could tear you free of me this far away? Hmm…Cassie, do you happen to have the phone number of any of Paul's Pack? Things will be easier if we contact them sooner rather than later. We are in a bit of a public place."

Cassie stared at him, then at Paul. This shit was getting weird, but Paul seemed generally distressed, and she wasn't stupid. Weirdness aside, Cassie knew dangerous men when she saw them. She had grown up in a time of political turmoil in her country and even though her family was old money and relatively legitimate considering most things, she had seen enough happen behind closed doors to know a bad situation when she was in one. And right now she was in one. So Cassie put her hand on the middle of Paul's broad back comfortingly and flipped open her phone. She didn't know about Pack, but she did know one of Paul's friends, the only number she had.

Collin picked up on the second ring.

"Cassie? Are you with Paul?" he demanded immediately. "What's going on?"

"Okay, Tupkuk, Hla'o and Wihl, whoever you are," she stumbled on the names slightly. "What exactly am I supposed to be telling Paul's Pack since you guys seemed to have rendered him speechless and immobile?" Cassie asked in a clear enough voice to carry between the strangers and over the phone. That was all the information Cassie knew at this point about them, so that was as good as a warning as she could give Collin. Maybe he would get it more than she did.

"Sonofabitch!" Collin snarled, and there was the sound of more snarling, angry animalistic snarling, in the background. Apparently he _did_ get it more than she did.

Tupkuk looked amused at her cleverness as he replied softly, "Please ask Paul's Pack to have two wolves come to Pier 57, preferably ones that can hold Paul, because I'm not interested in any accidents today. And I'm sorry for the inconvenience, although I think it's a bit irresponsible of your Beta to allow his newly imprinted wolves to roam outside his territory at will."

"Fuck you too, asshole," Collin spat as if he had been able to hear Tupkuk. "You hold on, Cass, we're coming."

Collin hung up the phone, leaving Cassie alone with a Paul statue and three Native American men who were all staring at her and Paul. It was gaining attention from the passersby, so Tupkuk walked closer to Paul and the twins shifted so that they were on either side of her. They leaned lazily against the railing, and Wihl spat over the side, watching for fish. Hla'o was staring at the people walking past with minimal interest and Tupkuk still had his hands in his pockets. If Cassie didn't know better, she would have said everyone was just bored and hanging out on the pier.

Another more violent tremor rolled down Paul's spine, and the leader of the threesome clucked his tongue lightly at Paul. "None of that, Paul," Tupkuk said quietly and again Paul went still. Then he said something in a Native American tongue that Cassie couldn't understand, and whatever he said made Paul growl softly.

"I'm sorry," Cassie chirped brightly, although her eyes were digging into the slender man. He was kind of irritating her, because Cassie never had liked people picking on each other. Whatever was happening with Paul was obviously not of his own choice. "I didn't quite catch that."

Tupkuk gave her a small smile, and when it showed just the tips of his teeth, Paul continued to growl, a low rumbling noise that didn't stop. Oddly enough, it sounded like a dog or a wolf. _A wolf_. Oh _hell_. Nope, she wasn't going there. These were just big guys playing piss each other off. Maybe the Packs were just different gangs? Ugh. Cassie hated gangs and she really hoped Paul wasn't in one, because then she was officially done with him. Probably. Maybe.

"It translates into 'Q'wati has blessed you, brother, and the Pack is proud.' It is a ritual greeting for a newly imprinted wolf," Tupkuk sighed softly. "Perhaps I should not have added that he is fortunate his imprint is beautiful as well. He took it as a sign of my interest, which I assure you, I have none of."

"That's nice," Cassie said lightly, tapping her nails against Paul's back. "Mildly insulting and kind of creepy, but nice. For the record you guys made me lose my ice cream. I'd like another one, if you don't mind." She wondered why she was getting a little out of breath, and why her chest was starting to hurt.

Tupkuk's small smile grew, and he ignored Paul's increased growling. "I believe we have just enough time to indulge that," he said kindly. "After all, it was my wolf that ruined your date. Wihl?"

The twin wolf grinned at Cassie and jogged off down the pier. He came back with a vanilla cone, and when he handed it to her, Paul actually made a half step in Wihl's direction. Tupkuk snapped a word in Quileute, and even Cassie flinched beneath it.

Some men's words were weak and held no weight. This man's words were strong, and it was ridiculous that the strength of him speaking should make her lightheaded. It was like being wrapped up in a hug that was squeezing too hard and it made her feel ill. Cassie didn't make any comment about the vanilla ice cream instead of what she had been eating. No, Cassie just found herself leaning into Paul's shoulder, her ice cream held limply at her hip as she tried to suck in air that was being squeezed out of her chest. She didn't understand at all, this shit was getting _really_ weird, and Paul's growl was becoming strangled. He was upset. Yeah, she was getting there too, although she had no idea why.

"I apologize, Cassie," Tupkuk said softly, and he did actually sound a bit repentant. "Paul's Alpha is trying to rip Paul free of me, and it's requiring a lot of effort on my part to hold him. This may be uncomfortable for you, but I promise that Hla'o and Wihl will catch you should you pass out."

The twins grinned in tandem.

"Great, you do that," Cassie managed to get out in small pants. As she grew dizzier, the second ice cream cone dropped from her fingertips. Darn it.

Tupkuk had been frowning at her, but then he turned his head, gazing down the pier. "Ahh. Good. They're here."

Cassie forced her eyes up to where the three were now looking. Two very tall men were striding towards them, not hurrying necessarily but with a purpose in their steps that made it clear they were here on business. She recognized the one, it was Paul's friend Sam. The one who's girl had scars on her pretty face. The other was not quite as tall as Sam, younger and very handsome. Almost like a clothing model, Cassie decided as she struggled for breath. He had an easy unconcerned mannerism about him, and he casually stuffed his hands into his pockets, pausing a few feet away and mimicking Tupkuk's pose. Even though his face was serene, this new stranger's eyes slid over Cassie briefly and she could see a quick flash of anger in them.

"Seth," Paul managed to grind out. "Get Cass…"

"Beautiful day isn't it?" the young man said in a pleasant voice, taking in the scene in front of him and addressing Tupkuk. "I always did like it when it misted like this, although Cassie seems a bit under the weather. I'd like our imprint back, please, if you don't mind."

"I'm aware that this seems very improper, La Push," Tupkuk said quietly, "But my wolf surprised yours and Paul didn't handle it well. I would not have grabbed him, but I was worried he would phase. Would you mind asking your Alpha to stop fighting me? I'd like to pass your wolf back, but at this rate he'll be so enraged that he won't have any choice but to phase if you don't grab him in time."

"I always grab my wolves in time," Seth replied with a friendly smile. "First I'd like Cassie back. I consider a damaged imprint as a sign you're not interested in keeping things pleasant."

"You're precocious for a Beta," Tupkuk noted, and Seth flashed him another smile, this one with the tips of his teeth showing.

"It's easy when I have the strongest Alpha, one stronger than you. And about Cass, I won't ask nicely again."

Tupkuk laughed, a soft barking sound, and then he glanced at Hla'o and Wihl. Ignoring Paul's panicked sounding snarls, each took Cassie gently beneath the arm, which was good because the moment she was pulled away from her contact with Paul, she staggered. She wondered if maybe she was having a panic attack and didn't know it. Or maybe a heart attack. That would explain the pressure all over her chest and body-Oh. It was gone.

She didn't remember walking towards Paul's friends, but she was now tucked against Sam's side, his arm around her protectively, and Seth had shifted between them and Tupkuk. Hla'o and Wihl were back at Tupkuk's side. She was dizzy, really dizzy even though the pressure was gone, and she made a little whimpering noise in her throat as everything spun.

"Shush," Sam murmured soothingly to her, running a hand over her head, but it was too late. Thinking that this hadn't happened to her since she was fifteen, Cassie blacked out.

* * *

The Alpha looked decidedly unhappy when Cassie slumped, Sam still holding her upright against his side, and the Alpha glanced at Seth apologetically.

"That wasn't what I had hoped for," the Alpha murmured. "She's a little delicate, is she not?"

"Paul's imprint bond is particularly strong," Seth shrugged. "And there were two Alphas crushing down on her wolf while she was standing right there next to him. It's understandable. Speaking of which, Jake wants you to know that he'll stop fighting you with the understanding that one word from me and he's setting the whole Pack on you and yours. And Jake'll take Paul back whether he phases or not."

To make the point clear, Jake, who was tied in pretty closely to what Seth was thinking right now, slammed against the Alpha's hold on Paul. The Alpha winced and rocked back on his heels slightly. The twin wolves rocked forward on their own heels and Sam growled warningly. Paul let out a snarl before quieting down quickly and Seth wasn't sure if that was Jake's or the Alpha's influence. The Alpha gave Seth a quirked smile.

"Your Alpha packs quite a punch. Even with your female, he's awfully strong for a wolf with only nine under his command."

"Ten," Seth corrected him. "The wolf in Hoquiam is Pack."

This seemed to take the other Alpha by surprise, and several unreadable expressions crossed his face. "Ahh. The _kadidu_ is yours now? Interesting."

"_Jack_ is ours now," Seth said softly. "And I would suggest not insulting him. My Alpha's fond of his _dog_, as you put it, and now's not the time or place to be insulting a Pack member when you have already harmed an imprint and taken our wolf."

"That is true. Again, my apologies."

There was something about him and his. Seth looked over the three wolves carefully. The Alpha was normal, old and strong but nothing too different than Seth was used to. The twins however were strange. Up until now Seth had never seen a Pack member with anything but brown eyes, and there was something different about these two that made him uncomfortable. They seemed to preen under his attention, moving in place a bit eagerly. The Alpha shifted slightly, and they quieted down obediently.

"What are they?" Seth asked abruptly, and the Alpha raised an eyebrow. Then understanding passed through his eyes.

"Wihl and Hla'o are wolfborn," the Alpha replied after a moment. "Have you never encountered their kind before? That would explain things. Wolfborn can be disconcerting if you aren't used to them, and my two are young, barely fifty, and still pups. Hla'o wanted to play with your wolf, and unfortunately upset him too much. I called him off too late. Talk to the…talk to _Jack_ if you wish to know more, if he is willing to share. Paul, please walk over to your Pack, it will make them feel better and show good faith on our part."

Seth nodded as Paul did as he was told, and Seth put a hand reassuringly on Paul's shoulder when Paul positioned himself beside and slightly behind Seth, further blocking the strangers from his imprint. This was a good sign, and it gave Seth hope that this wasn't about to turn into a bloodbath. "Sam, did Cassie wake up yet?"

"Stupid boys," was her reply, sounding wan and a little worse for the wear. "Tupkuk, Paul, wolf gangster people, _someone_ is getting me more ice cream. I never got to the cookie dough part."

Apparently she was. Seth grinned. "Good. Now for the fun stuff," he said brightly. "Tupkuk, I presume? We're claiming Seattle as ours, with no negotiations to that fact. Did you want to fight about it, or shall we all go on our ways?"

The twins whined in unison, unhappily dropping down to their heels. The Alpha looked annoyed.

"Our own territory is in Canada, north of Saskatoon and along the Saskatchewan River," he said. "We have no want or need to claim Seattle as ours, Beta, although we have our reasons for coming here."

"They must be pretty good reasons," Seth said, raising an eyebrow. "You're a long way from home and have to go out of your way to avoid Calgary's Pack to get here. We know for a fact they aren't very pleasant."

Wihl grinned and Hla'o barked out a laugh as their Alpha hesitated a moment before answering. "We like to eat at the Crab Pot," Tupkuk finally muttered, seeming a bit embarrassed. "The twins think it's fun to smash the crab legs with the little wooden mallets they give you," he added, as if that justified travelling hundreds of miles for a dinner.

"They let you have a mallet," Hla'o said happily, his eyes tracking each of Seth's wolves with interest.

"All restaurants should let you have a mallet," Wihl decided, keeping his eyes on Seth.

"And we go to the arcade," Hla'o made sure to add as Seth began to smirk. "Tupkuk likes the owner. She's very pretty."

"We all like the owner," Wihl said seriously. "She lets us play skee ball for free."

"She lets the Alpha play her for free," they grinned in unison. Hla'o craned his head towards Cassie, where Sam continued to hold her against him, even though she was steadier on her feet. "If we pick a fight, Tupkuk, can I still have dibs on the imprint?"

Paul let out another horrible snarl, reminding everyone that this could get really ugly really quick. Jake wanted to know what was taking so long, and Seth gave him the general impression that Seth would have to explain it all later, confusing him with thoughts of seafood and mallets.

"Seattle is ours," Seth said firmly, getting down to business. "But you may come through with escorts per my Alpha's will." Then he grinned impertinently at the older, stronger wolf. "We can't have your boys missing out on their crab dinners. And I hear the bread there is awfully tasty."

"Or we could just kill you now and be done with it," the Alpha suggested lightly, his eyes bright. If it was meant to intimidate, it would take more than that. Seth knew what power he had behind him, although further taunting this one was probably a bad idea.

"And if you manage to get past the rest of my Pack waiting for you outside the city, then Jake and Jack will have to run you down like _kadidu_," Seth said with a hint of steel in his voice. "Either way, it'll be messy. Shall we call it, or do you want to fight it out? If we can, I'd rather take it somewhere more private so we don't hurt anyone, but we'll do what we have to."

And there it was. Seth wasn't big on violence, but he wasn't a complete stranger to territory fights. If Cassie lived in La Push, it might be different, but as long as she was in Seattle, that made the point moot. Even if their intentions were honest, Seth simply could not have a strange Pack running loose that close to an imprint. Already he was trying to figure out just how the hell they were supposed to cover this much territory alone, but Jake's reassurance washed over him. This was the right thing to do, difficult or not. The wolfborn, (whatever that meant, Seth wasn't exactly sure), were poised to fight. Sam was hindered by Cassie. Tupkuk was hindered by controlling Paul. Seth was pretty positive that Jake could get Paul free, although that was going to make this violent fast. They were at an impasse, it could go either way.

Tupkuk was considering it on both sides. Then he shrugged, sighing.

"And so I send you out as sheep among the wolves," the Alpha quoted softly, his voice sounding almost regretful. "Do as you will, pups of La Push. It won't matter for long. If you are still here, we'll let you know when we wish to cross into your territory." His eyes gleamed as he added, "Give your female our regards."

And then the Alpha was gone with the twin wolfborn at his heels, leaving Seth to make one hell of a grab at Paul before he exploded. Sam watched them go, and then turned to Seth, who had an arm around a shaking Paul's shoulders. Both leaders of the Pack grimaced and shared a glance, and Sam wrapped his arms around his friend's imprint a little bit tighter.

Sam looked at his Beta and asked softly, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Seth didn't know. But he had a really bad feeling about it.

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* Excerpt from _Utopia_, by Sir Thomas More.

A/N In case anyone is interested, Wihl and Hla'o mean "One" and "Two" in Quileute, and Tupkuk means "Black" in Makah, if I have the proper translations.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N Sorry this took so long, I really struggled with this chapter. I kept writing, then changing it, then throwing parts out completely, then writing some more. Ugh. I don't feel like this is my best work, but here it is, and now I can gratefully move on to the next chapter. For those of you expressing some frustration with Cassie, don't worry. She's not supposed to be completely likeable, at least not at first. Unlike Embry and Sims, Paul and Cassie aren't compatible from the start. Embry and Sims chose each other. But if fate locks you in a room with a stranger, you don't really know what you're going to get, and the journey to see is the fun part. ;) A huge hug to _LightIsPrecious_ for helping me throw around ideas this chapter, and as always, thanks to _Jenni Drocks, eskimogirl58, Buffyk0604, Jacobleah, EnglishVoice, PinkAzn, mcc3654, Miss Bear, hilja, toalli, pinkshirt, LightIsPrecious, Ashes-Of-Grey, alley leigh, KerryH, Kelli83, LucyPenny, _and_ Emmaaxo_ for the reviews! (Whew, long author's note…)

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Four

"And so I send you out as sheep amongst the wolves," the Alpha quoted softly, his voice sounding almost regretful. "Do as you will, pups of La Push. It won't matter for long. If you are still here, we'll let you know when we wish to cross into your territory." His eyes gleamed as he added, "Give your female our regards."

With that the Alpha was gone, the twin wolfborn at his heels, leaving Seth to make one hell of a grab at Paul before he exploded. Sam watched them go, and then turned to Seth, who had an arm around a shaking Paul's shoulders. Both leaders of the Pack grimaced and shared a glance, and Sam hiked his arm up around Cassie a little bit tighter.

Sam looked at his Beta and rumbled, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It sounds just a touch ominous, right?" Seth shook his head and flipped open his phone. "Hey, it's me. Let them through, and make sure they're headed north or east. If not, I want everyone but you to track them, but not to get into anything, and let me know immediately. Keep Jared with you no matter what. No, Leels, that's an order and I'll get Jake to hold your nose in the dirt if you don't listen. I'm not losing you today."

Seth snapped his phone shut, and then he turned his attention to Cassie. "You okay?"

Cassie wasn't sure. If asked twenty minutes ago, she would have said she was wonderful. And she had been. Cassie went on a lot of dates and had a lot of good times with different exciting people, but just walking down the pier with Paul had been so very nice. Being with Paul was fun, was easy, and she had liked it. What she didn't like was the feelings of being crushed and wrenched around that had occurred every time Tupkuk had been talking, and she didn't like that even though the pressure was gone, she was still dizzy and confused. Kind of like someone had hit her in the head, leaving her brain fuzzy. Even though she wasn't prone to them, she could feel one heck of a migraine coming her way.

"M'fine," she mumbled, her accent growing thick enough that they probably had a hard time understanding her words. Sam shifted her so that his iron hard hold on her was a little more gentle, more of a hug than before. Still the arm around her waist was supporting more of her weight then her own legs were, so it was possible that if he decided to let her go, she would be down for the count. Unwilling to look that much like a silly girl in front of these men, Cassie tried to make the spinning world stop spinning by force of will alone. "I'm fine," she repeated, making sure to enunciate clearly.

"She got knocked around by that Alpha, Seth," Sam murmured softly. "I didn't know the imprint bonds could do that, but she's got that same glazed-over look the pups sometimes get if Jake slams them too hard."

Seth was distracted, it was obvious. He was gripping Paul as the huge man trembled, and he was watching everything around them, inhaling deeply. But he still spared her a closer look.

"Cass?" Seth brushed his fingers over her brow. "Are you sure you're okay?" His touch made it better, which was stupid, because that was impossible. But still, his skin against hers made the world stop spinning and steady into a slow swaying instead. It helped balance her, and she nodded.

"Yeah. Hey, just out of curiosity, if I managed to get myself stuck in the middle of a Native American gang war, someone would tell me right?"

Seth grinned and let his hand drop from her head, taking with it the steadying effect and leaving Cassie back in a world that was moving much too fast. She leaned heavier into Sam and tried once more to manually force the world back to normal. Her body resisted, and Cassie closed her eyes against the discomfort.

"I think she'll be okay, Sam. She just needs to get inside out of the heat and get some rest," Seth decided, before turning to Paul. "Come on, Paul. Let's go practice some anger management, okay? I need to go keep an eye on Leah, anyway."

"Let me go, Seth." Sam's head snapped up as Paul's voice ground out, and Seth frowned.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea, Paul?" Seth questioned, sharing a glance with his third. "Sam can take Cassie back home and-"

"Seth…with all due respect…_let me the __**fuck**__ go_."

Despite the fact that Cassie was barely half awake and limp against Sam's side, at Paul's furious snarl she looked up. Paul might have been talking to Seth, but he was staring at her, was staring at Sam's arms around her, was staring at the way she needed Sam's arms so that she didn't hit the ground. So she really shouldn't have been surprised that at Seth's soft sigh and reluctant nod, Paul sprang for her. He was a big guy, but he was one of those rare big guys that was really fast, and he had her away from Sam and twenty feet back from everyone else before she could even blink. She didn't even remember sitting on one of the black metal benches that lined the pier, she only knew that Paul's huge arms were braced on either side of her shoulders, his fingers curling around metal as he knelt in front of her.

Oddly enough his nose pressed against her collarbone was the most intimate touch she'd felt in years.

"They hurt you," Paul stated as he inhaled deeply, his voice low and angry. His arms trembled as they braced against the bench. "I let them hurt you."

"I don't even know what happened, Paul," Cassie said, trying to focus her fuzzy thoughts. "I just feel…I feel like someone's been sitting on my head for the last month and they just stood up. I'm okay, though. Are you okay?"

Paul just growled, a low animalistic sound, and he turned his head to the side. Seth and Sam had approached, keeping their distance as Seth dropped down to his heels.

"Paul, are you sure you don't need me?" Seth asked quietly, and Cassie could see his worry in his eyes. "Sam can watch her if you need time to shake this off. It had to have made you pretty mad. Either way, I need to be out there with the guys, not here. It might be best if you came with me."

Paul wasn't mad. Paul was livid, and his voice was a low snarl as his fingers dug into yielding metal on either side of her. "Seth, one day I'm going to run that fucker down and eat his fucking heart out through his ribcage. But right now I just want to be left the hell alone with my imprint. I'm aware that you're trying to help, but back the _fuck_ off."

Seth raised an eyebrow. "Do you think Paul's in control?" he asked Sam lightly, and the older man crossed his arms over his chest.

"Not by much," Sam decided, his voice going flat. "Because if he was, he would never be so goddamn _stupid_ to think I'd let him address my Beta that way."

Paul snarled at Sam, whose eyes narrowed dangerously, and Seth exhaled in annoyance. "Relax, you two," he said. "Sam, you know that wolf deliberately riled him up. And Paul, please try to prove us wrong here."

"Two fights in one day," Cassie murmured, leaning her head against his trembling left arm. The pressure was quickly building in her head, leaving the outside of her scalp tingling. "You're an interesting date, Paul Coho. My money's on Paul this round."

Paul had been glaring belligerently at Sam and Seth, but at her words, his eyes flickered back to her.

"Aww," Seth grinned teasingly at Paul. "I love it how the imprints always have you guys' backs. Lucky bastards."

Cassie gave them all a wan little smile. "Hey guys? You know that moment right before the piano crashes down on your head and you have a migraine so bad that you hide in a dark room and puke for a week? We're in that moment. If I'm supposed to walk back home, I should probably leave now."

"Paul," Sam said warningly, but Paul wasn't listening. Instead he had his arm around Cassie as he pulled her to her feet, and a look on his face that said that everyone better get the hell out of his way.

Sam started to step forward, but Seth caught Sam's eye, shaking his head. "Let him go. He knows we'll be here if he needs us again."

"Seth, if he phases…"

"He won't," Seth decided, standing up. "You need to learn to trust your wolves more, Sam. You taught him, remember?" Sam frowned but said nothing. Seth thumped his shoulder lightly to soften the rebuke. "Come on brother, we've lingered too long, and I'm more worried about Leah right now than I am Paul."

Cassie raised her hand, making them all look at her. When no one said anything, she waggled it in the air and Seth chuckled.

"Yes, Cassie?"

"Umm, does anyone want to actually explain what happened or am I to work on the gangster theory?" She waited for three silent men, whose silence was then followed by three firm no's. "No to both? Never mind. Paul, can we go home please?"

Seth and Sam stepped aside, watching Paul brush past them with Cassie tucked to his side. Cassie didn't remember much of the walk home, only that Paul was hustling her along, and that his arm over her shoulders was comforting even though that arm was shaking badly. Paul was upset, really upset, but he wasn't talking. Instead he was glaring, glaring at any and everyone that looked their way, and if the pain in her head hadn't started building faster she might have been amused by how people were scurrying out of his way. Even Jonathan, who had picked up an extra shift that day, flinched back from Paul's fierce expression as they passed by. Still the kid had some guts because he fell in step with them as the hustled through the lobby, Jonathan ignoring Paul's warning growl.

"Cass, are you okay?" Jonathan asked in concern, and she tried to smile reassuringly at him over Paul's increasingly louder growling.

"Migraine," she said, and he grimaced sympathetically as Paul reached the elevators and punched the button a little too hard. Then he frowned at Paul, who was shaking even harder, and Cassie tried to explain. "Several guys tried messing with us on the pier, and Paul's just mad. Everything's okay, Jonathan, he's just being protective," she promised, and Paul practically lifted her off the ground and swung her into the elevator, setting her back down with his body between her and the valet.

"If you need anything, you call me Cassie," Jonathan said, trying to hold his ground when Paul turned on him.

"She won't. Go away," Paul snarled, making Jonathan cringe and give ground, and Cassie stepped forward, sticking her foot in the elevator door to block it from closing as she ducked under Paul's arm.

"Don't you dare talk to him like that, Paul," Cassie snapped, the pain in her head rising as fast as her temper. "I'm nice to your friends, so you darn well better be nice to mine." Her little hand on his chest shouldn't have done anything at all, but when she pushed at him, he backed off all the way to the rear of the elevator.

"S'rry," Paul muttered, although from where she stood, Paul didn't look all that contrite. Instead he just looked mean. No wonder he had Jonathan looking so worried.

"You sure know how to pick 'em," Jonathan muttered, but he gave her concerned once over. "I mean it, Cassie. You need anything, call me. I'll ask Baba to make you something good, okay?"

"Thanks," she smiled weakly, and then backed into the elevator. Paul's arm immediately wrapped around her waist from behind, and she didn't want to see his expression. Whatever it was had Jonathan backing away quickly.

"Strike one, Paul," Cassie said softly as the doors closed. "Two more and you're out. You didn't have to be such a jerk."

"He should've backed off," Paul growled, his nose pressed to her shoulder.

"From being my friend? Because you're here, that means he has to stay away?" Cassie asked, rubbing her temples as his growl rose in volume.

"Yes. You're _mine_, dammit."

"Strike two."

Paul fell silent, but he kept his arm around her, and he kept his nose on her shoulder.

"Aspirin, aspirin, aspirin…" Cassie began chanting as the elevator slowly raised floors, and never before had the wait seemed so long. The moment the doors opened she was already pulling her key card from her pocket, and then she realized that her suite door was propped open. She'd had a bit of a strange day and she had a bad headache and she did not want those people to be in her rooms. Paul growled and stepped in front of her, but she grabbed his hand, pulling on him so that he paused long enough to let her walk into the room in front of him. Apparently the strike system had put him somewhat in check.

The party was in full swing, the music blaring and people having one hell of a good time. Good for them. Unfortunately it was time to go. Cassie marched straight up to the stereo system and hit the off button, rounding on the room as they turned to see who had killed the music.

"It was very nice to meet all of you," Cassie tried to chirp brightly, although it came out more of a pleasant grumble. "I hope we can party again sometime. But everybody is getting kicked out now, and is required to grab their trash as they go. Anyone who doesn't want to comply, meet Paul." Cassie pointed at the huge man who was standing beside her shoulder.

Paul didn't say anything, but he did take the nearest empty beer bottle in his fist, lifting it up so everyone could see. It made a pretty tinkling sound that hurt her ears as it crushed inside his grip. However, when he saw that she was weaving on her feet, closing her eyes from the brightness and rubbing her scalp to try to ease back the pain, Paul let out a snarled, "_Now_!"

Things were expedited rather quickly at this point.

Cassie stood where she was until the last Irish was firmly sent on their way, and then she made a beeline for the bathroom with Paul at her heels, returning to her mantra. "Aspirin, aspirin, aspirin…" Finally the migraine hit, slamming her halfway through the door, and she groaned, leaning against the counter. She flicked the light off, thinking that if Paul was going to continue to pretend to be a wolf, then he could pretend to have the eyesight of one.

"Where is it?" Paul demanded, opening her drawers quickly. The second one was full of pill bottles, and Paul let out a snarl. "What the hell is all this shit, Cass? You've got a goddamn pharmacy in here."

"Can we please discuss my multiple failings when my brain is not trying to tear itself loose from my skull?" Cassie whimpered, sliding down so that she was sitting on the bathroom floor. "Oh my god, this hurts. I haven't had a migraine in years, and never one this bad. What happened today?"

"Another Pack was here, we didn't like it, so Seattle's ours now. And I'm apparently too much of a fucking pussy to keep myself from getting mind slammed by another Alpha and getting my imprint mind slammed in the process." Paul was losing his cool; it was growing more obvious every second. He seemed shaken and that only made him angry. It was almost as if the worse Cassie felt, the more riled up Paul was getting. "Where the hell is the aspirin? I can't read these labels, Cass!"

"Calm down, Paul," she whispered, hoping that if she dropped her voice than maybe he would too, and hopefully he would stop throwing bottles around irately. He must not have gotten the message because Paul finally ripped the drawer out of the vanity and dumped it upside down in front of her, pill bottles rolling across the marble tiles.

"I can't find it," he told her in frustrated defeat, as if it was the final straw that broke the camel's back. His arms were trembling as he clutched the drawer, wood creaking between his fingers. Cassie pushed aside several bottles and went for a small tan one with a safety cap on it. Her hands were shaky enough that Paul took the bottle from her and opened it before handing it back. Cassie swallowed two of the pills immediately, not bothering to drink water, and then she handed both the bottle and the cap to Paul, who had sunk down to the floor in front of her, the upended drawer between them.

"Cass, what the hell is all this?" Paul demanded, staring at the bottles. "You need to tell me."

"Need?" She raised an eyebrow at the word. "_Really_?"

"Enough games, Cassie," he snarled. "Just tell me, goddamn it!"

Yelling was bad. She understood that he was upset from today, whatever that craziness had been, but couldn't he be upset at a quieter level? "No offense Paul, but I don't really know you and I don't _need_ to tell you a thing. Especially when you're yelling at me."

Which was probably the wrong thing to say, because Paul let out a frustrated growl and punched his fist through the floor. Through the _floor_. As in, through the marble tile, through the cement board and the plywood beneath it, his fist narrowly missing going through a pipe that would probably have flooded the hotel room beneath hers. Paul cursed and jerked his fist back out, and then looked up at her. Cassie stared at the hole and then stared at him, her eyes wide. Then they narrowed.

"Listen here, Paul Coho. I don't know what the heck is going on, who you really are, or why you can do _that_," she pointed to the hole in the floor. "But I do know two things. One, you're going to stop cursing at me, immediately. I don't like it and I don't deserve it. Two, just because I can pay for you breaking things doesn't mean I should have to. You're _going_ to fix that."

Paul blinked, and then he grimaced.

"I've already told you what's going on, Cass, you just haven't decided to believe me yet," Paul muttered, grabbing a towel and pushing it into the hole. Cassie wasn't sure what that was supposed to do to help, but then again she had never put her fist through the floor before. She had never put her fist through anything before; hitting things had never been her style. She pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her arms. The shock of his action had momentarily blocked out the pain in her head, but it was coming back fast and in full force.

"That's right. You're a _werewolf_, and I'm your imprint," she said, a touch sarcastically. "And that's why it matters what's in my bathroom."

"If you're an addict, then yeah, Cassie. It matters," Paul snapped back. "I'm not exactly thrilled about the prospect of being bound forever to someone who sleeps around and uses. Apparently I got the fucked up imprint."

Ouch.

Cassie winced and then closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain, and maybe trying to block him out too. Paul's face had twisted, as if he had realized that he had said the wrong thing, but even though his eyes were apologetic his mouth stayed closed in a grim line.

"I need to know," he repeated in a calmer voice, but it was clear he wasn't giving her a say in the matter. There were many things Cassie liked, but being bullied wasn't one of them, and she was disappointed that Paul had gone there. She had thought better of him.

"Fine, Paul. I used to dance ballet professionally," Cassie said in a detached voice. "Mostly in Russia, but sometimes in the States too. I was trained at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and danced for Bolshoi Ballet. I danced for too long, through too many injuries, because I wasn't ready for what my life would become after it was over. My dancing brought prestige to the family, and so they helped me do whatever it took to keep going: therapy, massage, eastern and western medicine…Near the end I was swallowing anything I could get my hands on to push me past the pain."

She paused, but when he didn't say anything, she continued briskly, as if this was an interview or an interrogation she wished to have over as soon as possible.

"I have so many stress fractures in my legs and feet that I should be limping everywhere I go, so most of those bottles are different strength painkillers, depending on how rough it is that day. Some days I'm fine and don't need anything, and some days I can barely walk it hurts so badly. The anti-inflammatory pills are for my knee. One of my partners lost his footing and because of it I landed wrong, causing the meniscus, the connective tissue in my right knee, to tear loose. They had to pin it down, and the back of my knee still swells up regularly. The amount of painkillers I was taking to keep dancing wrecked my stomach, and those two bottles are anti-nausea medicine. That last purple bottle is for anxiety, because I'd like to see anyone walk onstage about to perform in front of all of New York or Moscow's socialites, knowing they were one misstep away from breaking."

"What happened to make you stop?" Paul asked quietly, his voice sounding a touch more controlled, if not by much.

"I broke," Cassie said tiredly, rubbing circles on her temples with her thumbs. "Chronic sesamoid fracture in my left foot. Three surgeries later I had so much nerve damage and weakening of the flexor muscles around my big toe that I never came back from it. You can't dance without legs. And you know what, Paul? After taking that crap for so long, not a single one of them works very well anymore. My body's too used to the drugs, so there's really no point to taking them. That's why every stupid bottle is almost completely full. I dance and I drink and I _sleep around_, and then I go home and try to pass out if I can, because exhaustion and distraction is actually the best therapy I've been able to come up with to deal with the pain and the disappointment. And for the record, Paul, strike three."

Paul was silent, staring at her for a long moment, and then his eyes closed. It was like he was trying to gather himself, and after he inhaled and exhaled three times very slowly, he leaned over and scooped her up in his arms. He wasn't exactly her favorite person right now, but her head hurt so badly that if he wanted to lug her around like a sack of potatoes so she didn't have to walk, he was welcome to. Since Paul was carrying her to her bedroom, she expected him to lay her down on the bed, but instead he grimaced and set her down on her feet, his nose wrinkling as if he smelled something sour.

To Cassie's total and utter confusion, Paul stripped all the bedding off of her bed. When he was done he jerked his shirt off and dropped it down on the mattress, then pushed her shoulders lightly so that she was crawling into her now less comfortable bed. Paul wadded up the sheets, pillowcases, and blanket into a ball and shoved them into the coat closet by the front door, the furthest closet away from them.

"Paul, why…?" Cassie asked in confusion as he stalked his way back into her bedroom.

"It smells like other males and I just can't deal with that right now," he told her shortly, padding around the room on silent feet as he drew the shades and turned the blinds so that the room was blanketed in darkness. Then he walked out, closing the door behind him, and her sensitized ears heard the front door open and shut. He had left. For some reason that made her feel even worse than the migraine did.

So Cassie lay there on Paul's t-shirt, listening to the steady thumping in her head that indicated her blood was pumping too fast in her blood vessels, and she wondered just who Paul was and what she was doing here. He was weird and aggressive and he got angry and got into fights. But he was also smart and clever and kind of sweet in an odd way. He was handsome and funny and kind of a bully and had treated her friend badly. It wasn't that he was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, two different people with two different personalities. Paul just had a lot of personality traits that made him up, one big jumbled bundle, and she wasn't sure exactly what she was going to see next. Cassie wasn't all that interested in being around someone as complicated as herself.

Cassie assumed Paul had the key card to the room, but maybe she should go run the chain and lock him out, tell him not to bother calling or coming around anymore. Every good thing he had done and said so far had been completely wrecked by how he had treated Jonathan and how he had treated her in the bathroom. _Soul mate_ or not this guy really wasn't the one for her, especially if he was nothing but a complete jerk…

And then Paul was back in her room, twisting the cap off of a cold bottle of soda in his hands and carefully tipping it to her lips.

Cassie blinked at how fast he had moved across the room, but then sipped at the offered drink. "Mountain Dew?" she asked, surprised at the sugary sweetness. She always drank diet.

"The caffeine level is high," Paul said in a low voice, speaking quietly to keep from making her feel any worse. "It's supposed to help with migraines. And eat this if you can." He pushed a Hershey's bar into her hand, and then adjusted her case-less pillows so she could sit up a little more. He ground his teeth together, his voice coming out in a low rumble. "What I said in there, Cassie…I shouldn't have said it. Just because I don't agree with things, I still shouldn't have said it. I'm sorry."

"Everyone's entitled to their own choices and their own opinions, Paul," Cassie replied softly, shrugging as if it didn't matter. "If you want to think of me as a slut, that's your choice. And if I lose respect for you because that's all you can see, then that's my choice. Thank you for getting this, by the way."

Paul nodded but didn't say anything more, he just sat on the edge of her bed, his elbows on his knees and his head bent. He was staring a hole through the floor, although it wasn't quite as effective as his fist had been. His hands were still trembling. Cassie ate her chocolate slowly, washing down sugar with more sugar, and then finally she set them aside and curled up in a ball on her side. The junk food had made her feel a little bit better. Or maybe just having someone take care of her made her feel better. Either way, Paul was still a jerk but a tad bit less of one in her book. Cassie nudged Paul's leg with her still booted toe.

"Paul?" She asked softly. He looked down at her foot for a little too long and then up at her face. "Something big happened out there today, didn't it?"

He exhaled, and then went back to staring at the floor. "Yeah, Cass. Something big happened. Those other guys were too close to you, so we had to change our territory-"

"That's not what I meant," she interrupted him. "Something big happened to _you_, didn't it?"

"Cassie," Paul rumbled, "I've had big things happening to me for a week now."

"The imprint," she said dubiously, and her continued disbelief must have been audible because he grunted and stood up.

"I'm not having this conversation now," Paul said harshly as he went to her closet, ignoring the rows of clothes and stacks of shoeboxes as he dug out one of those thin cotton blankets hotels leave for their guests. He handed it to her and then indicated the phone on her nightstand. "I'm sleeping on your couch tonight, so if you need anything, say my name. I'll hear you. And call anyone who might be planning on coming over and tell them not to, because they won't make it past the front door."

And then he shut her door, leaving her in her bedroom alone. There was a kind finality in that that made her wonder if she was in trouble here. Despite how angry he had gotten, Cassie wasn't necessarily scared of Paul. But she also didn't like him feeling like he could order her around or determine who was allowed in her own home or not. Maybe if the situation had been different, she might have gone out there and let him know as sweetly as possible just where he could stick that kind of attitude, but right now her brain felt like someone was thrusting hot pokers into it. Not only that, but her body felt strangely out of whack, as if she'd been caught in the middle of a tug of war, so instead Cassie just decided that she'd deal with it later. She'd deal with _Paul_ later, in her normal way, because she was officially over it. She'd give him a chance to leave tomorrow on his own, to let him keep his pride, but if he lingered too long, she'd very gently kick him out the door or have a friend do it, like she had done with the Irish's.

And if that didn't work, well…her father's people were only a phone call away.

Cassie closed her eyes, blocked out the world, and willed the pain away. It was something that she was very good at.

* * *

The Alpha had stopped cursing furiously. That was always a good thing.

Jack waited patiently for Jacob, lying stretched out on the sand with his nose on his left front paw. The sun was particularly hot, beating down on his brindled colored coat, and he hoped that the added camouflage was worth getting baked for. Of course, he would lay waiting patiently on blistering coals if his newly acquired Alpha asked it of him, but that didn't make it comfortable. Just something that would be endured for the sake of the Alpha and the Pack. The Pack. Jack hadn't had one of those in a very long time.

Jacob was discussing something with his Beta over his cell phone, and even though it was hard to do with ears this sensitive, Jack tried his best not to listen. A conversation between his Alpha and his Beta was their business alone, and being that Jack was ranked at the very bottom of his Pack, his ears were the last that should hear it. It didn't bother him, his rank now. The old Jack had been more dominant, had asserted himself in ways that naturally let him rise in Pack rank, but those days had long since passed. This Jack was content to his lot, a lot that was infinitely better and yet infinitely more frightening than it had been in centuries.

His Alpha thought he was five hundred years old. Perhaps Jack should let Jacob know he was closer to a thousand.

It was easier however to ignore the number of years as they had passed by, because to Jack there had only been _before_ and _after_. Before was Pack. After was Packless. Before was good, warm and safe. After was bad, alone and vulnerable. But now things had changed, now he was Pack once again, so he supposed that his way of looking at things had changed too. To Jack there was only _then_ and _now_. Then was hopefully going to be left in the past, and now was hopefully going to be better than then. Jack would do better now than he had then, this time he would do his Alpha proud.

Jack liked now. He liked his Alpha. He was shy of his Pack, but they were Pack, so he liked them too. He hoped that one day they might like him.

"Keep a close watch, Seth," Jacob was saying, the low angry tones in his voice catching Jack's attention inadvertently. "If that asshole messes with one of ours again, wolf or imprint, I'm considering that a direct attack on my Pack and Tupkuk gets to deal personally with me. And if for any reason you think they're gunning for Leah, rip his fucking throat out, even if it takes the whole Pack to do it. If an Alpha already that powerful takes her completely into his Pack, it could strengthen him enough and weaken me enough that I might not be able to get her back-"

Jack mentally chastised himself and forced his attention away. There was a stretch of pincushion cacti off to his left, and on the closest one a small desert swallowtail butterfly had landed. Jack watched it flutter its wings, and he tried to drown out the sound of his Alpha's voice by focusing on those wings. As he tried to hear the nearly intelligible whisper of membrane through air, he didn't move from his spot. Jacob had said wait here, so wait here he would, but Jack did stretch out his neck so that his wet nose was merely inches from the cactus and the butterfly. The butterfly went still, and Jack went even more still, waiting patiently until it had begun fluttering again to stretch even closer. And then he froze, his breath nearly as soft as the sound of its wings, patient, forever patient…

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but finally the swallowtail flitted its black and gold wings once, twice, three times, and then it rested on his nose.

With half lidded eyes, the ancient wolf focused on the butterfly, listened to its wings and its breaths and the tiny beating of its heart. He focused until each beat was distinct, meaningful. It was rare if a butterfly lived past two weeks, so even more than most its time was precious, its moments important. Today was the day it met a wolf, the only wolf it would ever know, and that meant something to that tiny insect. It was the four hundredth and sixty-third butterfly that Jack had met so intimately, but he had been lonely for so very long, and it meant something to him too.

The Alpha didn't think anything, the way he often did when he was trying very hard to block his feelings away from his Pack, possibly this time to protect Jack from the weight of his anger. No Alpha liked another Alpha messing with his Pack. He did however drop down to the ground and stalk through the sand, each paw placed silently and precisely, until he had snuck up behind the butterfly. Very carefully the Alpha stretched out his muzzle until his nose almost touched his wolf's, and the momentarily nervous butterfly flitted up from Jack's nose, fluttered in a curious circle and then dropped down onto the Alpha's muzzle. It was the second wolf this butterfly would meet, and even if the insect didn't care, if it meant something to Jack then it meant something to Jacob too.

Jack thought that inside this young leader was more untapped potential, more Alpha, than any living wolf had ever known.

Jacob thought that he looked a little stupid with a butterfly on his nose.

The ancient wolf made a lightening quick snap at the Alpha's muzzle, the butterfly gone down his gullet before Jacob could blink. Jack's tongue lolled out of his mouth, pleased that he had located and destroyed his Alpha's enemy with finesse and capability, and Jacob wondered if too many years alone had made his newest member just a touch quirky. The Alpha rose and nudged into Jack's shoulder, rolling him so that he was on his side as the Alpha stepped over him. Jack's tail thumped the ground twice as Jacob rested a paw against Jack's neck, lifting his nose to the air and sniffing deeply. The scent of the pup was fading…but there were strangers near his already unsettled Pack, and Jacob wondered if they should return. The Alpha wanted Jack's opinion, did he know these three?

Jack did.

And?

And the only wolf that Tupkuk would kill without good cause was Jack himself. Jack's mind fluttered, like butterfly wings, taking Jack into darker more awful times. The Alpha withdrew his question and eased his wolf back, softened Jack's pain the best he could. Jack whined and snuffed the dirt, feeling that he had failed already. _No_. In time, when Jack was ready, then they would talk. The Alpha needed what Jack knew, but in time. It wasn't worth damaging one of his own over. They had nothing but time. If Jack knew these wolves and believed them to not be a threat, then Jacob would trust his opinion.

Trust him?

Yes. Trust was part of being Pack, too. Had the Alpha's newest wolf been alone for so long that he had forgotten?

Jack's tail thumped the ground again, the brindle wolf yawning before batting at his muzzle with a paw. The enemy butterfly had been eaten but he was still hungry. Perhaps some more butterflies could insult his Alpha's dignity so that Jack could have a more satisfying meal. Or even better, maybe the Alpha could be insulted by a nice rare steak?

The Alpha snuffed his nose along Jack's back, checking his wolf. This pup they were hunting was like a newborn leech: stronger and faster than normal, and annoyingly so. It had led them a tiring chase, and Jacob wasn't interested into running Jack into the ground. He was an old man after all.

Jack was much too blissfully happy being in Jacob's Pack to even consider the fact that his Alpha was freshly whelped. If anything, he would do his best for his Alpha's sake to pretend the opposite was true.

Yeah well, Jack played with butterflies. So…yeah.

His tongue lolling out of his mouth in amusement, Jack rolled over and wiggled into the sand, scratching his back as Jacob continued to stand over him protectively. Then Jack regained his feet and shook the loose sand from his coat before crouching down next to his Alpha, ready. Could Jack run? He could. Then it was time to hunt and they would hunt together.

With Jack at his heels, Jacob turned towards Guadalajara.

* * *

The couch smelled like strangers. The bedroom smelled like strangers. The whole fucking hotel suite smell like strangers and it made Paul want to break things.

Or maybe it was his wolf, Paul wasn't sure, because ever since they had been grabbed by the Saskatchewan Alpha, Paul and his wolf had been thinking right along the same lines. Both wanted to kill something or someone, preferably that Alpha or his freaky wolfborn twins, although logically they knew that was a battle they might not win. But they were angry, and they felt liked they had failed their imprint.

Sixteen minutes and fifty-three seconds. That was exactly how long Paul had been held there by Tupkuk, helpless and unable to lift a goddamn finger or tooth to protect his imprint or himself. Sixteen minutes and fifty-three seconds of knowing that if the other wolves took it in their heads to hurt the Pack by hurting her, there was not a damn thing he could do about it. Sixteen minutes and fifty-three seconds of screaming in his head for Jake, begging his Alpha to free him from this so he could fight. And Jake had figured out how to do it too, after enough slams at the other Alpha's hold, although Paul had been able to feel Jake's reluctance. Just because he could wrench Paul back didn't mean that Jake wanted to, because he had worried doing so would damage Paul badly, and possibly Cassie too. If Paul wanted to be able to protect his imprint, he was going to have to hurt her.

Paul had never felt so fucking helpless in his whole damn life.

He knew that Cassie was messed up from today, more than she realized. Paul knew that her migraine was more than just a bad headache, that it was carryover from himself, his emotions and his discomfort from being caught between two Alphas. If Paul wasn't so damn angry, he would probably be just as uncomfortable as she was, but adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, forcing that aside. Paul knew he was still in fight or flight mode, even long after the situation was over, and what he needed to do the most to help himself and his imprint was to just calm the hell down.

He was a moron for fleeing from his Beta. That really had been what it was. Paul had felt cornered, threatened, scared, and instead of relying on his Pack to help him through that, he had grabbed Cassie and bolted. Seth understood, and probably Sam did too, that as deeply entrenched as Paul was in Pack, his instincts had told him to hole up, and that's what he was doing. Cass was lucky she lived close by, because right now she could be wedged between some rocks with an irate Paul blocking her in there instead of blocking her inside her bedroom.

Considering the fact that Cassie had already decided she was through with him, this was a preferable option.

Paul knew he had screwed up, first in the elevator and then in the bathroom. But that fucking kid had been looking at Paul's imprint with some sort of goddamn _ownership_, when she was _his_. Whether Cassie was angry with him, whether he wanted to strangle her for her room smelling like she was bedding the entirety of Seattle, she was still his and he was still hers. They were stuck with each other whether they liked it or not. He probably shouldn't have made her talk about the pills, but he definitely shouldn't have said what he'd said. Hell, he'd practically called her a whore. What a way to treat his imprint barely one week into the bond.

Getting her the candy had been good but the look on her face when he had ordered her around hadn't been good, and even though Cassie hadn't fought him, he knew women enough to know an unhappy one when he saw them. It was just that Paul was pretty sure that if he could get himself together, then she would start feeling better too, and the best way to do that would be to get everyone else away from them. Put her in a corner and hide her. Keep their mate safe.

He had isolated himself from his Pack when there was another Pack close by. Had he made a bad decision? Should he call them and have them come back? Even if the other Pack had gone willingly, that didn't mean they wouldn't double back. They hadn't hurt him when they could've though, when he was at his most vulnerable, so it was unlikely another attack would come. And despite Hla'o's comments about having dibs on Cassie, no one had physically hurt her beyond what she had been handed through the imprint bond. So that meant that she should be safe, right?

Right?

The wolf was uncomfortable. It didn't know if Paul was asking for its opinion on the matter or not.

Paul was very much aware of his other half, grew more aware of it as he watched Embry struggle with containing the wolf inside. And while his wolf was inclined to let its basic feelings known about matters (spaces being too cramped, other wolves being too close, nearby females being in heat and its subsequent desire to mate), it kept to itself and Paul kept to himself. Paul ran the show and the wolf was agreeable to that as long as its most basic needs were met. Food, warmth, Pack. The complexities of being human were most often beyond it and the wolf had no desire to understand its other half any better. That being said, Paul was worried about their mate, one of the few things that mattered very strongly to the wolf, and so it was paying attention to Paul's mental distress. It was distressed too. Was Paul asking for its opinion or not?

Maybe having an internal conversation with his other half made Paul a lunatic, but considering how fucked up today already had become, why the hell not?

The wolf considered its thoughts, trying to think of a proper way to communicate them to Paul. The wolf was unhappy, it didn't like being cornered by stronger wolves, although it was natural that they wouldn't be the strongest in every encounter. It was grateful for Pack, and for a Beta who had listened when the wolf had signaled their distress to him. It was also grateful for a Pack strong enough to increase their territory, and it felt more comfortable knowing that their brothers and sister were roaming around them even now, and that the other wolves had been run off their land.

It didn't understand why they were out here when their mate was in there. If she was injured then shouldn't they be at her side, giving comfort as they guarded her?

When Paul refused to answer that, the wolf considered its thoughts again. It didn't understand why Paul seemed to be frightened of their mate. She was very small and was so little risk to them that it was almost comical. She was clever and liked to play games, like any wolf, and so they could enjoy their time spent playing with her. And she smelled very good. She was theirs, and they were here with her, and wasn't that how it was supposed to be? The wolf would not have chosen Paul an unfit mate, because it in itself did not want an unfit mate. And if Paul would allow himself to _physically_ mate with her, then he had little to worry about from other Packs and from his own.

Paul didn't understand.

A flutter of feelings from Paul's other half as it struggled to put things in ways that Paul would understand. The wolf wished that Paul did not think in terms so alien and complicated. Wolves didn't steal each other's mates, and a mated pair was monogamous for life. Only the Alphas ever broke that rule. An Alpha might choose to mate within his own Pack away from the dominant female, but rarely would an outside Alpha be encouraged to take another's mate unless females were scarce. An unmated female was fair game and could be encouraged to change Packs, though, so the wolf wished that they could get their scent on their mate sooner rather than later. As long as their own Alpha didn't find their mate appealing when he was in rut, then they had little to be worried about.

Paul wasn't sure what part of that blew his mind more. It was impossible to imagine Jake rutting his way through the imprints, and even if he did, Jake would have a mass revolt on his hands. Jake's own Beta would go through the roof. Paul had a hard enough time thinking about Cassie sleeping with strangers, forget about her with his own Pack. The wolf couldn't fight their Alpha if he wanted their mate, so if the Alpha did, than perhaps Paul could find a way to fight him? The wolf _really_ liked their mate, she smelled good.

She smelled _really_ good.

When Paul realized he had picked up her jacket from where Cassie had laid it on the back of a chair, and was snuffing at it like an addict, he balled up the jacket and tossed it across the room. The wolf retreated, confident that at least in this situation that Paul had things under control, leaving Paul to himself. He didn't know what to do, and his hands were still shaking. He was pacing the hotel room, keeping himself at all times between Cassie's bedroom door and the front door. He pitied anyone who might walk in here right now, he would probably throw them out by the scruffs of their necks. Dammit. He was stronger than this, had spent years learning to contain himself better than this. Paul thought about calling Seth, telling his Beta that he was wrong and that maybe he did need-

His cell phone buzzed in his pocket, and he flipped it open without looking who it was.

"Paul, are you okay?" The weight of Alpha rolled over him, making it feel like a heavy blanket had been wrapped around his shoulders.

Jacob. Thank god.

"Paul?" The cell phone was crackled with static as Paul's Alpha repeated his name in concern.

"It's been a bad day, Jake," Paul muttered over the phone, slumping down to the floor in front of Cassie's bedroom door. "Shouldn't have left Seth. Can't stop shaking…"

"Yes, you can," Jake replied, and there was a confidence in his voice that Paul didn't feel. "Of course you can, Paul. You've been doing this longer than any of us except for Sam. You're still my wolf, so forget that asshole bullying you around. I've got Seth on it, and if need be, I'll come deal with him. I'm half tempted to come back anyways because of Embry. So tell me, what happened out there, man?"

"I was so stupid, Jake," Paul said in a pained voice, humiliated. "I got distracted and wasn't paying enough attention to my nose. There was no way that wolf should have ever been able to get that close without me knowing. I was paying too much attention to Cassie. It won't happen again, I promise."

To his shock, Jake actually barked out a laugh. "Of course it will, Paul. Blondes are distracting, and from what I hear yours is more than most. Is she okay?"

"Not really. She passed out after that asshole slammed me and has been off ever since she woke up. Cass's got a really bad migraine now, even though she says she doesn't get them, and she's not acting like normal. She's normally pretty bubbly and flirty, but right now I think she's trying her best not to start screaming at me. Today really threw me and I'm still really pissed and all over the place, so I think that maybe it's my fault."

"Of course it's your fault," Jake said and Paul's stomach twisted at his Alpha's acknowledgement of his failure. Then Jake chuckled, his voice kind. "Of course you made another Pack come to Seattle and act like dicks, Paul. It's completely your responsibility that they liked seafood and you liked ice cream in the same city. Oh, and you are definitely to blame for having the control to get Cassie back home yourself instead of making Seth babysit you through a temper tantrum. Try not to do it again."

There wasn't a lot he could say to that. Paul felt slightly foolish, but as he sucked in several deep breathes, his shaking hands grew steadier. This was the difference between Seth and Jake. Seth might have been able to order him to calm down, but Jake could bring it out in him with a few reassuring words and a bad joke or two.

"Is it working, or should I keep picking on you?" Jake asked teasingly, and Paul quirked a tiny grin despite himself.

"Insult my mother a few times and I think I'll be okay," Paul muttered, and Jake tisked disapprovingly.

"No way. That woman is awesome. I could start saying suggestive things about your sisters though…" Paul snapped his teeth at the phone, getting a laugh from Jake, and the sound of his Alpha's amusement made things better. So very much better.

"I'm worried about Cass, Jake," Paul finally admitted, running a hand over the back of his neck. "I got her in bed in a dark room, but if this isn't a normal headache, what do I do? You don't slam us imprinted wolves like that, not ever, and so this is new territory. Should I call Carlisle?"

"If you two are imprinted as strongly as Seth thinks, then I'm not surprised she's feeling like shit," Jake acknowledged. "Keep an eye on her, she if she sleeps it off. If not, call Seth in the morning. How are you feeling now?"

"A little more like myself," Paul exhaled heavily. "Kind of like an asshole version, though. I think I made about fifty major mistakes with Cass between getting her from the pier and getting her in bed. Old Paul reasserted himself and none of us really liked him, myself included."

"Cut yourself a little slack," Jake chided him gently. "Old Paul would still be out breaking things, and you've got at least a working control of yourself. You've had a rough day, Paul, so try to take it easy. Order some five star resort take out or something. I've already talked with Seth and that other Pack is gone, so don't worry. And I've pulled you from patrol tonight and tomorrow, and Jared's got Shane calling around to cover your shift tomorrow night. Jared will work it if he has to. Take a break, _eat something_, and go convince your imprint you're not as big of an asshole as it seems. Give her a stuffed animal or something. Girls always love those for some reason, no matter who they are."

Paul chuckled at that. "Yeah, even Sims went girly over that stuffed vampire Embry left her. I swear, Quil's got this whole imprint thing easy, he can use that shit to get out of trouble for years. How much does it suck that I have to go apologize to someone I'm not even dating for being an ass? It's like we're in a committed non-sexual relationship or some shit."

"It's called being friends, Paul, and it's a bitch. Try doing it with a married vampire you're still in love with," Jake smirked over the phone. There was silence on the line followed by an amused snort. "Listen, I've got to go, Jack's acting weird. I think he's trying to mate with a butterfly. If you need us, Paul, you use us, but don't cut yourself short. If I had to have any of my wolves in that spot, I'm glad it was you. You did good, brother. Thank god it wasn't one of the others, today could have been so much worse."

Jake hung up, his words resounding in Paul's head. As horrible as it had been, Jake was right. It could have been worse. What if it had been one of the pups with Paul's imprint? What if it had been Leah, who in simply being a matured female made her Pack and her Alpha stronger? She was a prize any Alpha would be tempted to snatch and run with. What if it had been Embry and Sims? Paul shuddered. If that wolfborn had lunged for Sims, someone would have died. Seth himself was having a hard time holding Embry, so it was uncertain if Tupkuk could have managed it. That would have been bad.

There was a knock on the door. It was the valet. Paul sat very quietly, reminding himself that Cassie was right, he couldn't treat her friends badly, even her male friends. Three more long breaths and another knock and Paul opened the door, standing in the doorway and blocking the view into the suite. He would be nice, probably, but he had meant it. No one was getting past the door into this room. The kid was lean and tall, what Paul had been before he had phased, and there was a stubborn expression on Jonathan's face, even though he smelled slightly of fear. He was intimidated by Paul, but he was still here. Brave kid.

Jonathan stared at Paul and Paul stared at Jonathan, and then the valet shoved something into his hand. "My sister brought this over for Cassie," he said roughly. "Baba just made it this morning."

Paul took the paper bag, nodded once, and then closed the door in Jonathan's face. That was nice, right? Nicer at least. He sniffed the bag, and his stomach growled. Somewhere off in Paul's mind the wolf stretched, its teeth showing as it yawned, and it sniffed too. They were hungry. The Alpha was right, they should eat something, but not their mate's food. She needed fattening up enough as it was.

He didn't have to go to Cassie's door to know she was already asleep, he could hear her soft steady breathing through the door, and so Paul took the bag to the kitchen. Inside was a Mason jar, one of those old kinds that his grandmother used to can tomatoes and green beans in. This one was filled with a thick golden soup, almost a stew, and he could see homemade noodles and thick chunks of chicken in it. On a hunch, Paul opened the cabinets until he saw what he had expected to see. Three more Mason jars and two worn Tupperware containers sat next to a pristine set of tableware that looked to have never been touched. Damn. Obviously this family cared enough about Cassie that she regularly got homemade food and that being sick meant getting homemade soup. Which meant that no, Paul had not been nice enough.

Cursing softly under his breath, Paul went back to the front door and poked his head out into the hall. Jonathan was waiting for the elevator, looking pissed, and Paul sighed as that look was turned his way.

"I'm kind of an ass," Paul grunted by way of apology. "It's my thing. But she'll like the soup, and I'll make sure she gets it when she wakes up."

This time Paul felt much better about himself when he shut the door in the kid's face.

* * *

She must have fallen asleep, because she woke up to the sound of snarling.

Cassie jerked awake, the movement making her head pound, and she looked around her room. There was no one in there. The sound was coming from the other side of her door, and it was growing louder. It sounded like an animal, an angry wild animal, and it scared her. She was in the middle of the city, how in the world had something like that gotten into her rooms? Her hand had already gripped the phone, ready to call the front desk when it occurred to her just what that sounded like.

_Wolf_.

There was no way. There was absolutely no way that there was an actual wolf in her home. Paul's teasing words that first evening came back to her, telling her he was a shape shifting wolf and that she was his imprint, his soul mate. She thought about how she had called him in the middle of the night, and he had still picked up even most people wouldn't have. She thought about how he had told her he would always pick up, about how she didn't need 911 because she had him now. She thought about his anger today, and when he had pressed his nose to her collarbone, sounding so upset that the strangers had supposedly hurt her. He had put his fist through the floor. People could do that on purpose, but for him it had almost seemed like an accident.

_Wolf_.

There was no way. He couldn't be.

_Wolf_.

But maybe she should go out there and check for sure. It was probably one of the more stupid things she had ever done because if there was a live wolf, an angry wolf, in her hotel room, the safest place she could be was far away from it. The safest place she could be was locked in her room calling security and animal control. Instead Cassie picked up the closest pointy weapon she could find and held it up by her chest, creeping to her door as the snarls grew in ferocity. Cassie peeked her head through the door, and what she saw sent a wave of relief through her body. No, there was not a wolf in the room. There was just a shirtless Paul, stretched out on the floor in front of her door, asleep. He was obviously dreaming and it must have been a nightmare, because he was twitching and shuddering and snarling viciously. The sounds were coming from him. He was the wolf.

Which was exactly what he'd been telling her for a week now.

It was interesting when your life suddenly changed, when its course was shifted sideways without you having any say in the matter. It had happened to Cassie twice before, and both times it had been terrible. And yet as she watched Paul tremble and shake and snarl, guarding her door even as he slept, she thought that maybe this time it could be something other than terrible. If it was true, if she really was the soul mate of this man, then was that so bad? Was being important to him, was being near his side so horrible? Until today her opinion of him had been good. And if those other men had been wolves, then maybe they really had been in a bad spot today. Maybe she and Paul could have gotten really hurt, so that was part of why he was acting like such an angry, territorial jerk. He was keeping people away from her to protect her; he was trying to keep her safe. What a novel idea.

Was being protected such a bad thing? It could be nice. Perhaps if Paul was around, when he wasn't out eating vampires, then maybe then she wouldn't have to worry about-

"_Oh my god, there's VAMPIRES?_" Cassie suddenly screamed out loud, horrified, and Paul was awake and on his feet by the second word. He had snatched her up and had his back against the wall, trying to find the threat. When he realized that the hotel room was empty except for him, Paul slumped against the wall in relief.

"Cass, please don't do that to me," Paul begged her. "You scared the shit out of me."

"There are _vampires_?" she squeaked this time, staring up at Paul in horror, and he looked down at her seriously. Suddenly his handsome face split into a grin.

"Not in here, not at the moment. But Cassie, I really don't think that your shoe," he gently pulled her weapon, a purple rhinestone covered cowboy boot, out of her hand, "would kill one." Cassie squeaked again, this time wordlessly, and Paul chuckled. He wrapped his arms around her, tucking her in close to his chest. "But don't worry, I can. I take it that you finally believe me?"

She did. She also was very freaked out. In quite vocal tones Cassie told Paul exactly how freaked out she was, and how she didn't appreciate him not telling her about this for real, because teasing was one thing but if there were _vampires_ than he should have told her immediately. Vampires _ate_ people. And this explained a lot but made it a lot more confusing, and she had a headache, and she was still mad at him for earlier in the bathroom.

Perhaps if Cassie hadn't screeched it all in Russian then Paul wouldn't have been standing there with a stupefied expression on his face. However the fact that she kept smacking him in the chest with her reclaimed boot seemed to amuse him, which only set her off more. Paul made the mistake of snickering and Cassie let him have it. She was twenty-four years old, and the last several years had been hell. She had finally just put her life together, was finally learning to deal with things on her own the best she could, and he chose now to saunter into her life? Now the great protector showed up when she didn't need him anymore? Now? He had to wait to come along _now_?

Again, all things probably better expressed not in Russian, because Paul seemed to only understand that he was getting yelled at and that unless he wanted to get a boot thrown in his face again, perhaps he should take her shoe away.

Cassie's head hurt from all the noise, but it felt really freaking good slamming the door in his face. And then Cassie sank onto her stripped down bed and cried. She wasn't normally a crier, but if this was for real, if Paul wasn't lying, then maybe just maybe her life had taken a turn for the better. And the sheer relief that accompanied the thought, mixed with uncertainty and the risk of disappointment left her defensive and weepy. It took her a few minutes to compose herself, but when she was finally done crying, Cassie sniffed and looked up. Paul was crouched in front of her, not touching her and giving her some space, but his gruff angry expression he'd had all day had softened into something else.

"Would you like to repeat any of that in English, Cass, or should I just apologize meaninglessly to make you happy?" he asked, and even though his words were harsh, his tone was sweet and teasing. He actually looked almost pleased.

"Paul, I doubt you have _ever_ apologized meaninglessly just to make someone happy," Cassie retorted, and Paul smiled gently at her, brushing his thumb across her jaw line, wiping away the gathered wetness.

"True, but I've never had my ass chewed by my imprint entirely in Russian before either, so I figured I might as well branch out. Funny how that actually made me feel even better than talking to Jake did." She didn't understand, so Paul smirked. "It's been a long time since someone other than Pack had the guts to scream at me, Cass. Please don't get into a habit of it, but I like that you're not scared of me. And I didn't have a clue what you were saying, but whatever it was, it was real and you meant it."

"I said that I believe you," she grumbled, sticking her tongue out at him. "Although your timing sucks. Whatever. I have no idea what happens now, though, and now my head really hurts. Which is completely my fault but I'm tempted to end up blaming you for that too, Paul."

"And so the imprinting has begun," Paul chuckled, but he scooted a little closer, his face growing very serious. "Cassie, I know this is very confusing, but if it helps at all, turning into a giant fluff ball with no warning a few years ago really confused me too. When the shock wears off, however long that takes, it's not so bad."

She nodded, but then tears welled up in her eyes again, and she looked down at her lap sadly. "You're probably in shock too, huh? Having your life change so drastically, and now here's this person you're supposed to get to know, whether you like them or not. And especially considering you got the fucked up imprint…that must have sucked."

Paul exhaled and looked at the carpet, before lifting beautiful dark caramel eyes to her. "Listen Cass, I shouldn't have said that, and I apologized for it. The reality is that I don't really get you, and until we figure each other out, I'm probably going to hurt your feelings a lot more than just tonight. But you're my imprint, and I take that seriously. I'll try, okay? I'll try really hard to do good by you, but you have to give me a little leeway. I'm not exactly known for my…"

"Tact?" Cassie offered up and Paul winced.

"Among other things," he admitted, and his contrite expression made her cave.

"It's okay, Paul," Cassie said truthfully, rubbing her pounding temples. "I shouldn't have yelled at you, so I'm sorry too. Normally I don't ever yell at people, it's rude and I have better manners than that."

"Breeding."

"I'm sorry?"

"Rich girls like you have better breeding than that, Cass," Paul told her, his eyes twinkling. "We all know you don't have better manners. I know what you did to poor Collin."

Cassie suddenly grinned impishly at Paul, and he grinned back at her, and it was nice. But then her headache came back full force, which was not nice, and she rolled back over on the bed and hid her face beneath his t-shirt. The bed moved slightly, much less then she would have expected for someone two and a half times her weight crawling in next to her. Paul didn't wrap her up in his arms, but he did curl around her without them touching. His hands weren't going to stray, and she didn't want them to. She just wanted the pain in her head to stop. Instead it just grew and grew, until just lying there made her whimper in pain.

"Shush, Cass. Just try and relax," Paul rumbled in her ear. "I'm feeling better finally, so you should start feeling better soon too. The imprint's new, and it's kind of screwing us up, but just relax. Everything will be okay."

"Promise?"

Paul nodded and brushed his lips ever so lightly against the nape of her neck. "Promise."

The wolf yawned again and curled up around their mate, content.

* * *

The next morning Cassie wasn't any better.

In fact she was worse, much worse, with her head hurting so badly that she had thrown up twice and had called Paul a liar in Russian. Paul had called Seth like Jake had told him to, deciding that if he was going to have a chance holding his own in this imprint, than he'd probably have to go get a Russian to English dictionary. He had also made sure to hold his conversation with Seth entirely in Quileute just to even things out.

It was storming that day, the sky an angry dark color that blocked out the sunlight, so Cassie was currently hiding on the couch, waiting for Paul to return with his friends. His Pack. Apparently her Pack too. She wasn't sure what, if anything, they could do. Short of taking stronger medication or cutting her head off, Cassie was pretty sure she just had to wait this one out. Paul had tried to convince her to eat the soup Jonathan had brought, but considering how sick she was, Cassie had refused. Throwing up Baba's soup was a crime she was unwilling to commit. Instead she sat huddled up in the dim silent room, thinking that people who didn't get migraines had no clue how lucky they were. She would rather have had one of her fingernails ripped off. At least the pain would have been over quicker.

"Holy shit, this place is awesome!"

And so ended the silence. Cassie buried her face in her arms as the loud comment broke her brain for a moment.

"Jared, what part of her head hurts did you _not_ understand?" Paul growled as he strode into the room, Seth and another familiar man at his heels. It was Jared, the guy she had met the day she had met Paul. Two more followed, Sam and a tall Quileute girl who was so attractive that it made Cassie cringe. Couldn't the hot girls show up when Cassie wasn't looking this worked? Paul's eyes locked immediately on her, and she could see his expression flatten. Paul wasn't happy she wasn't feeling well, not that there was anything he could do about it.

"Sam, look at this!" the girl made a happy noise as she passed by the counter and picked something up. She waggled the menu at the older man. "Room service, baby."

"No, Leah. Not on Cass's dime, you aren't," Sam told her firmly as she hopped up on the counter, thumbing cheerfully through the pages.

"Of course on Cass's dime, Sam," Leah grinned wolfishly at Sam and then at Cassie. "She's Pack, isn't she? Pack's all about sharing. And I could happily share…the corned beef hash breakfast with the buttermilk pancakes. Yum, pancakes."

"Believe it or not, they're not that good," Cassie mumbled into her arms. "Wait a half hour and get the lunch menu. Much better."

"Hmmm," Leah looked the lunch menu over thoughtfully and Sam shook his head, seeming amused.

"No, Leels," Seth said firmly. "Not now, we have Pack to take care of." Leah rolled her eyes in annoyance but Seth ignored it, heading straight for Cassie. Seth crouched down in front of her, Paul and Jared behind his shoulders.

"Hey you," Seth said, smiling gently at her and Cassie gave him a wan little smile in return. Seth frowned and peered into her eyes, and then his mouth tightened when her headache made her grimace and put her face back in her arms. The pain was radiating up and down her neck, into her back and spine, and it sucked. She was thinking that she was going to throw up again, and that maybe one of these nice boys could get her a bucket.

"Give her an aspirin and send the princess back to bed," Leah chuckled, still flipping through the menu. "She'll be fine."

"Leah," Seth said warningly as Paul shot her a flat look, but she ignored them both.

"Or maybe give her something else," Leah smirked. "I've heard she's got stronger stuff tucked around here somewhere. Where's your candy stash, Cassie?" This time Paul growled, Jared echoing it defensively. Leah grinned at both of them, and opened her mouth.

"Enough, Leah," Seth said softly, but that hint of steel was in his voice, and it made them all stand up a little straighter and Leah's lips shut despite herself. "And you can eat later. Come over here and look at her, Leels, and use your nose."

"Please be quieter," Cassie murmured, squeezing her eyes closed. Hands found her back, rubbing gently, and that deep masculine scent told her it was Paul. She had spent all night wrapped up in that scent, not that she had been able to enjoy it much. Paul had kept a good inch between them at all times, and Cassie was pretty sure it would have stayed like that even if she had been feeling normal. When Cassie opened her eyes again, Leah was next to Seth, staring at her intently. Then Leah cursed and sat back on her heels.

"Shit, Seth. That Alpha fucked her up."

"No, Leah. That Alpha _and_ Jake fucked her up. They were playing tug of war with Paul and wrenched her around too hard. I thought that when Paul shook it off, Cassie would too, but apparently not. Jared, Sam, do you guys ever have this kind of stuff happen with your imprints, maybe on a smaller scale?"

Sam just grunted, but Jared pursed his lips, sharing a look with Paul. "Kim once said that she could sometimes tell when Jake had me switch directions when I was patrolling. It was like someone was reminding her to turn around, and it always threw her for a second. She'd be heading for the bedroom and end up in the closet. She always kind of thought it was funny, but now it doesn't happen since he's been gone. She thought it was because of the imprint, but maybe it was because of the imprint _and_ Jake ordering me? I don't know, Seth."

"Each time Tupkuk called Paul to heel and Jake jerked him back, that probably dislodged Cassie too. Paul, you said you were a mess until Jake called, but besides being angry and unsettled you felt fine afterwards? You feel fine now?" Seth questioned and Paul nodded.

"Yeah, I'm still unsettled, though," Paul admitted. "I don't like her hurting, it makes it feel likes she's vulnerable and that I need to protect her more. It's kind of making me a jerk."

"You?" Jared chuckled. "Never."

"Can you guys come back and be wolves some other time?" Cassie groaned softly, a little shiver going through her. "I'll be more fun tomorrow, I promise."

"Seth?" Paul asked, sounding unhappy, but Seth ignored him, his attention completely on Cassie. Without asking first, Seth took her face in his hands, Jared shifting away to give him more room as Seth tipped her head up. She cringed at the motion, although his touch, skin on skin, oddly helped.

"Cass, honey, I need you to look at me, okay?" Seth said gently. "Try to keep your eyes open, and try to focus on me."

"Seth, she's an imprint, not one of us," Sam rumbled, looking uncertain. "Will that work?"

"I don't know," Seth admitted. "But if the Saskatchewan Alpha could get to her through Paul, and Jake can affect Kim through Jared, I might be able to go right to the source."

"Cass isn't an experiment, Seth," Paul growled, but when Seth raised a single eyebrow at Paul, the older wolf ducked his head apologetically. Normally she would've said something clever to break the tension, but right now all she cared about was the horrible pounding in her head. So she did as Seth had asked, trying to focus on him.

"Good girl," he said, smiling again, and his thumb rubbed her cheekbone gently. "I know we haven't _officially_ met yet, Cassie, but my name's Seth Clearwater. I'm Paul's Beta, and I'm gonna try and help you feel better."

"By being a beta? Aren't those a fish? You guys are all so weird," Cassie replied, but she was smiling a little at him. It was hard not to. Seth's eyes held hers, and he was massaging her neck with his fingertips lightly as he chuckled.

"More so than you know, Cassie," Seth joked as he continued looking at her. "Cassie, is that short for Cassandra?"

"Nuhuh," she shook her head between his hands then winced as pain rolled from her temples down her neck and into her belly, making her stomach turn over again. Paul made a soothing noise in his throat, although he had stopped rubbing her back. No one was touching her but Seth.

"Full names work better than nicknames, honey. Indulge me."

"Ksanochka Ivanovna Fedorova," she sighed, and Seth blinked. "It's Russian…You said my full name," she added, feeling a little silly.

"I can see why you go by Cassie," Seth smirked, glancing at Paul. He repeated her first name a couple of times until it didn't trip on his tongue. "Okay, Ksanochka."

"Ksanochka Ivanovna," Cassie corrected him, mumbling, "You have to use them together. Michael Jackson didn't call Billy Jean just Billy. That would have made the song very confusing, although much more interesting." Leah barked out a laugh as Seth blinked again. Someone was snickering, it sounded like Jared.

Seth grinned up at Paul. "I'm gonna be the first one to say that Little Bit here is going to break you, buddy. You don't have a chance," he stated with certainty, and Paul sighed in exasperation. Seth turned back to Cassie, who was swaying a little, growing greener by the second. "Alright Ksanochka Ivanovna, can you focus on me again?"

She tried, even though it really sucked. There were double Seths. She attempted to shove the discomfort aside and force the two Seths back into one.

"Good," Seth murmured to her, his voice sounding richer, more liquid. Huh. "Good girl. I don't know what Saskatchewan was saying, you're not fragile at all. You have a pretty high pain tolerance, don't you honey? I can see why Paul's unhappy. You smell like you're hurting much worse than you're acting. It's subtle but it's there, and Paul probably didn't even realize the scent was driving him nuts. That's my fault. I was distracted yesterday, and if I had caught it, I wouldn't have left you two alone. I'm actually impressed with Paul's control, because a wolf whose imprint smells like pain can be dangerous."

Great, now she was the stinky imprint, too.

"Paul's got a high pain tolerance," Seth informed her, leaning in a little closer as his eyes flickered over her features. "Sometimes it's not a good thing for us wolves, because when you block out the pain, you sometimes can put a block on the rest of you too. It makes it harder for Jake and I to get through. I know it's gonna suck, but can you relax and just let yourself hurt?"

She didn't do that. She never did that. Cassie shook her head.

"Ksanochka Ivanovna," Seth addressed her, his voice wrapping around her like a blanket. Heavy. Thick. Strong. Expecting to be obeyed, so she tried. "I would like you to relax and let yourself hurt. Focus on me, honey…good. It's going to help, I promise, just wait and see. Just relax…a little more…a little more…

The pain rolled heavier through her and as she opened her mouth to whimper, Seth's voice deepened, holding the weight and strength that Tupkuk's had, only this time, it didn't hurt.

"Ksanochka Ivanovna, **focus on me**."

And so she did.

He was handsome, and his russet skin was a touch paler than Paul's was. He reminded her of a more refined version of Collin, what Collin might grow into if he was lucky. His teeth were white. His eyes were the color of the mocha frappuccinos that she liked so much from Starbucks. He was nice, even though she hadn't really met him before now. He was nice and he was safe. She was safe because she was with him, and she was safe because she was with them all. They were all here now, and everything was okay. Her head hurt, but the out of balance feeling she'd had since the pier was sliding away, because he was there and she was there and they were there and everything was better now. He was settling her back into balance, putting her back into her place. They all had their place because they all mattered and were loved, and she mattered and was loved. The hurt the other wolf had given her was fading away because he was never going to let anything hurt his Pack, they were his, she was his, and everything was better now…everything was…everything…ev…

The pain slipped completely away as Cassie's eyes fluttered shut, and she was only peripherally aware of strong arms catching her as she slumped. It was the first time she had ever been aware of the conscious change between waking and sleep. She felt her limbs grow limp as one by one her muscles relaxed. She listened as her heartbeat slowed, her breathing slowed, her body slowed, now blissfully pain free. She caught the faint touch of a voice, asking if this was supposed to happen, and then another voice, murmuring steadily, trying to keep her from going all the way under. She watched the light fade, deeper and deeper until it brightened again as she was…

She was dreaming. She dreamed of a chair, and of an empty room, and of her. She dreamed of nothing on the walls, of nothing on the floor, of nothing on herself. She slid from the chair and gazed at nothing through the window, hearing nothing, seeing nothing, feeling nothing. She leaned forward, pressing her nose to the glass, but there was nothing out there, just as there was nothing in here. There was nothing, nothing at all.

The wolf's fur brushed across her fingertips.


	6. Chapter 5

A/N Thanks everyone for your kind words last chapter! This one went much better for me, obviously, because it only took three days to get posted. ;) Thanks to my reviewers from the last chapter: _pinkshirt, jigokunooujo, MadToTheBone1, Buffyk0604, LucyPenny, hilja, EnglishVoice, MissBear, Emmaaxo, mcc3654, LightIsPrecious, ally leigh, StealthLiberal, Ashes-Of-Grey, Jacobleah, _and _KerryH_. Also, in case anyone wants to know what it was that Jack did to get exiled from his last Pack, it's actually in chapter 19 of Book One, the scene with Rico and the Rabbit. Laters! ~mel

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Five

Cassie was great.

No, great wasn't the proper term. Great was fashion week in Milan, with her friend Garritt's clever commentary in her ear and a glass of champagne in her fingertips. It was becoming lost in a book in her parent's parlor, listening as her little sister's fingers ghosted over a baby grand. Great was eating all the vanilla from a dish of chocolate chip ice cream and having one big spoonful of half melted chocolate chips left in the end. It was closing her eyes the moment before the curtain rose, basking in the silence of expectation. Great was thirty-two fouettés to her right, taking a small breath, and then thirty-two fouettés to her left, proving to everyone that despite her shortened height that she was worth every single second of her training. It was eating chalky mashed potatoes with a black plastic spork, and eating fried chicken with your fingers, and seeing how much honey one biscuit half could hold before collapse.

No, Cassie wasn't great. She was downright wonderful.

She might have been new to this whole imprinting thing, but Cassie had learned her first lesson well. Pack was _awesome_. Pack was awesome because it could do these amazing things like make her feel _so_ much better. Seth, Paul's Beta, had done something to her the other day that had not only wiped away her migraine like it was nothing, it had temporarily wiped away all her other aches and pains as well, physical and emotional. Paul had said it was similar to what Tupkuk had done to Paul, taking control of him and ordering him around, but when Seth had done it to Cassie, it hadn't hurt. In fact it had been the absolute opposite. Seth had wrapped Pack around her like a big warm fuzzy blanket of happy goodness, making her feel more important and cared for and protected and loved then she had ever felt before.

It had been amazing and sweet and wonderful, like falling in love while being surrounded by marshmallows, so much so that she didn't even mind the fact that Seth had kind of overdid it a little. So he had maybe accidentally inadvertently put her in a nap for an hour or two or twenty-five, but Cassie wasn't complaining. There were worse things than sleeping in, not that Seth had seen it that way. She had figured that if Paul wasn't upset, and she wasn't upset, then Seth shouldn't have been either. It had been the best rest Cassie could remember having in forever. But apparently putting an imprint semi-comatose was not acceptable to the Beta, and Seth had been visibly distressed when Cassie had finally yawned her way awake. It had been Paul's warm strong hands massaging up and down her sides that had gradually pulled her back to the world of the living, which was a very pleasant way to wake up any day. Seth had snatched her up and squeezed her tight, apologizing profusely to the blissful yet confused Cassie, but Paul had merely tapped her nose and told her she was a trouble maker and left it at that.

Seth was taking the whole thing much too seriously.

No, Cassie was fine, perfectly fine, and if Seth hadn't have muttered to Paul that it would never happen again before fleeing the hotel suite, she would have been tempted to keep Seth on speed dial. He could mind whammy her any day, and if Seth could work it out so that she was getting a facial at the same time, then the boy could open his very own spa. After the distraught Beta had gone with his sister, Sam having left hours earlier to take care of things back home, Cassie had spent the rest of the day snoozing in the company of Jared and Paul, who could go for hours at a time in silence as long as they had a television and enough snack foods. Currently they were watching the Los Angeles Lakers destroy the Washington Wizards, something that both men were not taking very well.

"Dude, come on! How many rebounds are they going to let Gasol get?" Jared complained, tossing a piece of popcorn up and chomping it out of the air. "And shit, that's Kobe's twenty-seventh point! This is ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous?" Cassie yawned sleepily, rolling over on her side.

Cassie was stretched out on the couch, her head pillowed on Paul's leg and her sock covered toes wiggling against Jared's hip. She kept drifting in and out of sleep, the effects of Seth's mental soothing leaving her with such a deep feeling of comfort that she couldn't help snuggling up and letting it settle around her. It didn't bother her at all that Paul was still there, she liked it actually. The combination of her current state of pleasantness and finding out she really was his imprint had melted a lot of the anger she had felt towards Paul the other night. That wasn't to say that if he treated her the same way again, she'd let it go a second time. But right now she was over it. She never had liked being angry with anyone, anyway, and Paul had been awfully nice to her since their talk the other night. So they were okay, that was until he decided if he was going to be a jerk again.

Paul had taken to toying with her hair absently, tugging lightly on the short piecey strands while Jared idly tapped his large fingers across her toes. Cassie wondered if they realized how much they were touching her. It was as if the constant contact with her was something that was unconsciously done, because they certainly weren't paying attention to her, not when the Wizards were down by fifteen and it was the third quarter.

"What's ridiculous is that even though not a single person on the Lakers plays as a team, we _still_ can't beat them," Paul grumbled, annoyed. Cassie watched the game for a moment, feeling wonderfully comfortable as she tapped her fingertips lightly on Paul's jean clad leg.

"Nuhuh," Cassie disagreed. "Kobe plays as a team. But then they start losing so he just takes the ball back. He wants to win, you can't blame him for being competitive."

"You like watching basketball, Cass?" Jared asked curiously, and she yawned again, digging her toes into Jared's hip as she stretched.

"Nope. I like watching tall attractive men running around covered in sweat. What is this basket ball of which you speak?"

Paul chuckled and Jared grinned down at her, saying, "You're such a little liar, Cass. Who's the point guard?"

"Derek Fisher," Cassie promptly replied as she snuggled back down onto Paul's leg, pushing it a little to see if it fluffed like a pillow. It didn't.

"See?" Jared waggled his pointer finger at her. "_Liar_. And you're in Washington now, baby, so start pulling for the blue and gold. None of this Kobe shit, Cass."

"Don't curse when you talk to her," Paul rumbled, glancing at Jared pointedly. "She doesn't like it."

"Aww, you remembered," Cassie smiled up at Paul, thinking that she liked him much better when he wasn't upset. He was much nicer.

"I remember everything you say, Cass," Paul told her, sparing her a smirk. "As long as it's in English. When you start yelling at me in Russian is when it doesn't exactly stick. You should hang out with Kim, she throws shoes too."

"Really?" Jared smiled at Paul. "That's so cool."

"How is that cool?" Paul raised an eyebrow.

"Cause now the first three wolves are all imprinted," Jared said contentedly. "And we can all stop phasing at the same time and grow older at the same time, and get married and have kids that grow up together. And Kim and Em and Cass will all get mad at us and throw things at us and we'll have to apologize and have no clue why, and then when we're old and grey we'll sit back and laugh and remember the time that Cass lied about being a Lakers fan, and we'll all be one big happy family. It'll be cool."

"There is so many things wrong with that, I'm not even going into it," Paul rumbled, and Jared grinned.

"Can you come up with a better option, Paul?"

"Sure." He nodded and turned his attention back to the game. Jared waited then rolled his eyes, once more tapping on Cassie's toes.

"…And?"

"And what?"

"And what's the better option?" Jared wanted to know. Paul glanced down at Cassie, who was curled up blissfully, idly twisting a ring on her finger that looked like it cost nearly as much as Leah's motorcycle. Then he smirked at his friend.

"I'll let you know as I figure it out. If you haven't noticed, Jare, my imprint doesn't really seem like the domesticated broodmare type."

"Oh, is popping out babies part of being imprinted, Paul?" Cassie asked curiously. "You know, no one's really told me all that much about this, except that we're soul mates and you said that we're getting married eventually. When will that be, exactly? Because if I'm getting married, then there's planning involved and my mother's going to have enough to deal with in convincing my father not to have you quietly disposed of, that is if she likes you and she doesn't really like anyone. She doesn't even like me all that much, not anymore anyway, buy hey, no one ever turns out the way their parents think they will. I wonder how much lead time Valentino needs, because if I'm getting married, I'm _not_ doing it in Versace. And I know this is mostly what Seth did, but how awesome is it to feel so…good? My legs don't even hurt at _all_."

Cassie made a happy noise and then realized that the men were both staring at her. She tipped her head to the side. "Hmmm, I said something wrong, didn't I? Don't worry guys. If you like Versace that much, I'll deal. Relationships are all about compromise, right? Hey Paul, does being engaged mean we're dating, or is it kind of like a formal betrothal thing but both parties are allowed to have their separate relationships as long as they're discreet and they end when the actual wedding happens? My ring size is a four and a half, by the way. And hey, if Jared's going to be your best man then Kim will have to be my maid of honor, because you simply can't split couples up in a wedding party, and that might hurt my sister's feelings if she's not my maid of honor, so we're going to probably have to flip coins. Or maybe we could just elope? Jared, what do you think?"

Paul blinked. Jared, a little wild around the eyes, stood up and gave Paul a sympathetic look. "Well, errr, I'm gonna go. Cass, you seem to be back to your normal self, so Paul, you have fun with that, and umm…yeah. Later," Jared bolted. The moment the door closed, Cassie chuckled and looked up at Paul. There was nothing like the 'm' word to make men run for the hills.

"Hmmm…That worked better than I thought it would. Now we're _alone_," Cassie waggled her eyebrows at Paul suggestively. He blinked again and then suddenly he laughed.

"Do you ever take anything seriously, Cass?" he asked, flicking her forehead before resting his fingertip between her eyes. "Jared thought you meant all of that."

"Jared will have to get used to me then," Cassie decided as she stretched her arms above her head. "You should've brought Collin over, he's more my type to hang out with. He knows better than to believe me when I say anything."

"I don't think _hanging out_ is why you like Collin, Cassie," Paul smirked, tapping his finger between her eyes. "You're kind of a dirty old woman."

Cassie crossed her eyes and then stuck her tongue out at him, and Paul did it back, making her laugh.

"My grandmother once told me that my eyes would stick that way if I didn't stop crossing them," Cassie informed Paul seriously, who chuckled and ran his finger down her nose, her eyes following it. "It would be a shame to ruin your good looks that way, Paul. We'd have to call you weird eye boy, and I'd be so embarrassed hanging out with all of the other imprints." Cassie sighed sadly.

"Your grandmother sounds like a smart woman," Paul rumbled. "How was she related to you again? You weren't adopted, were you?"

"Clever, Paul," Cassie rolled her eyes. "She was my mother's mother. My babushka-"

"Your scarf?" Paul raised an eyebrow and Cassie chuckled.

"My _grandmother_. Babushka. My baba."

"That's the name your friend Jonathan used for the person who made your soup," Paul made the connection. "So Jonathan's grandmother is Russian too?"

"Yep." She smirked up at him, and Paul grinned as she let her accent grow heavier and added, "Small world isn't it?" Cassie was pretty sure Paul liked it when she allowed her accent to come through. Then she enunciated more clearly as she continued. "Baba Wells is a first generation immigrant and she runs this awesome little bakery off Delridge Way. A month after coming here I found the place and began stalking her for her prianik medoviy."

"Her what?"

"Prianik medoviy. They're these amazing little honey cakes. Baba spent two weeks trying to teach me how to make them and then gave up. If it involves doing more than adding water and turning on the microwave, then I should stay away." Paul's finger was still on her nose, so Cassie placed her pinky next to it and crossed her eyes again, watching the two fingers blend together. "Baba's made me an honorary Wells, with all the rights and privileges and baked goods that come along with it. Jonathan and his sisters are completely Americanized but still, us Russians have to stick together."

Cassie yawned for the hundredth time and sat up, not giving Paul the option as she wigged onto his lap. He sighed as if it was an annoyance, but his arms immediately came around her and hugged her loosely to his chest. "My baba wasn't Russian though. My dedooshka, my grandfather was. My ded met her when she was in Seattle visiting some friends, and he became instantly enamored with her. My baba was very beautiful and very young, fresh off of her reservation, although I don't remember which one. Somewhere around here. Anyway, my family had some business deals in Vancouver and my ded was doing some travelling afterwards. He was the youngest son and had that luxury. Since no one expected him to take over the family holdings, no one fought him too hard when he brought home his beautiful American wife. It only became shameful later when his older brothers both died and he took over."

"So you're a quarter Native American," Paul mused. "Your grandmother must have been from our tribe, because your bloodlines are diluted so much at this point, I wouldn't have imprinted on you if she hadn't been. I can ask around if you'd like. Do you remember her first name?"

Cassie pursed her lips. "Kachine, I think, but I'm not sure. She died when I was very young."

Paul hummed, his nose touching her shoulder as he inhaled lightly. "Kachine. That's appropriate." When Cassie looked at him in confusion, he smiled. "It means beautiful dancer, Cassie."

She was quiet for a while after hearing that, and Paul seemed content to watch his basketball game with her sprawled across his lap. Then she tapped her nails against his bicep to get his attention. "Hey Paul?" He didn't answer but she knew he was listening. "I was just messing with Jared earlier, but I am curious. What is this whole imprinting thing? If you had to describe it, what would you say?"

Paul didn't say anything immediately, but his breathing changed slightly, indicating that his mood had changed slightly too. He muted the television, and when he finally did speak, he didn't sound upset, just very formal.

"They say that the first Quileutes were a pair of courageous wolves that were changed into humans by Q'wati the Transformer," Paul rumbled softly, as if telling a story not often shared. "Our tribal lands are on the Pacific Ocean, and we survived since the beginning by fishing and whaling and taking the gifts offered up by the sea. There is a legend that says that once, long ago, there were great storms that drove the Quileute people from the waters. Many died from the storms and the rest grew weak from hunger. The Chief of the tribe prayed to the Great Spirit for aid, and from the direction of the setting sun far up in the sky, a great Thunderbird appeared. It held a whale in its talons, and in gifting the people with the whale, we were fed and survived."

He paused, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "The Quileute are a people born of the earth, dependent on the water, and beholden to the sky. And between the earth and the water and the sky is _Pack_. We are the protectors of the tribe, and have been since the time of Taha Aki and his sons. We are the courage, the flowing life blood of the tribe, to be used and spilt as needed for the continuation of our people. We are the Pack."

Paul tugged the neck of Cassie's shirt down slightly, resting his palm against her breast as his voice grew even softer.

"And the imprints are the heart of the Pack. They bring courage to the Pack when we are afraid, they give reason to keep our paws beneath us when we falter, and they are the pressure behind us that makes the life blood continue to flow. They are the heart, and they are the heart beat, and in our love for them they change us. They are a weakness to us, but without them we are weaker still. Power is dangerous without what's in here to temper it." He thumped the heel of his hand lightly against her breast.

"The imprints are a gift, Cassie. They soften us and harden us simultaneously. They help solidify the balance between ourselves and our wolf sides, because if the man can make his imprint content, the wolf keeps its mate content. Even after only a week of being imprinted, I can tell the difference inside myself, and can see how imprinting has changed the wolf as well. And even though it is difficult to be…_encouraged_ to love a stranger, in imprinting you have made me stronger, Cass. You have made the entire Pack stronger. The desire to care for and protect the imprints is ingrained in us, and should the day ever come that we fight a fight we cannot win, it may just be that imprint bond that tips the balance. That is what the imprint is to me, as a Quileute, as a wolf, as Pack."

Cassie nodded, taking it all in, but then she pursed her lips. "But what is it to _Paul_? Just plain old Paul Coho? What is it to him?"

Paul frowned but kept his arms around her. Then to her surprise he grasped her hips in his large hands and turned her so that she was straddling his lap, facing him. Paul let his eyes wander down Cassie's body, not so much in interest as in cataloguing every part, every freckle, every perfection and flaw.

"I don't know, Cass," Paul murmured softly. "You're beautiful, and as a man I can appreciate that. But you're not the kind I would have normally chosen for myself. It's hard to be objective, because the wolf side of me is in love with you, has chosen you as its mate, and that affects me in a thousand tiny ways every day. And there is pressure in the Pack that we be enamored with our imprints, either love or be _in love_ with them too. I have never been good with love on command, Cassie. Things take time with me. But the imprint bond is all about keeping the imprint happy, and I'm not actively fighting the imprint, so the desire to ignore what I want simply to please you is always pressing at me on some level. Jared caved to that pressure immediately, and he gave himself over completely to the imprint with Kim. Quil did too with Claire. But as seriously as I take my responsibilities to you, I don't want to lose myself along the way. And my normal self would not have chosen you."

It wasn't the easiest thing to hear, but it was honest, and Cassie nodded. "What does it mean when you say that you're not actively fighting the imprint?"

Paul exhaled and leaned his head against the back of the couch, keeping his hands lightly on her hips. "It means that I'm not upset about being imprinted to you, I just have some reservations about it. Some serious reservations to be completely truthful. I just don't know yet, Cass. I know I want to be around you, but not all the time. I want to kiss you, and hold your hand and see where it goes, but not if I can smell other people on you. This is the best you've smelled since we met, considering you've only been around Pack and myself lately, and it's the first time I'm not bothered by the smell of others."

"Your sense of smell is that good?" Cassie cringed a little at that, her face growing a touch red. "Well that's kind of embarrassing. But you have to understand, that's just me. I don't really care if you like it or not, I want to be around people because I like people, and getting to know who they really are is important to me. Sometimes that brings intimacy and sometimes it doesn't. I'm not going to play coy, I _do_ want to get to know you too, Paul. If this whole soul mate thing is for real, then that means things could become really interesting between us. I'm not completely unwilling to make some compromises, but I'm not going to change myself to accommodate someone who doesn't really like me in the first place. That's just asking to get my heart broke."

"Cass," Paul's voice dropped even softer and he pulled her so that she was sitting flush against him. Paul lowered his head and nosed his way down her neck, pausing at her pulse point before brushing the very lightest of kisses against the skin there. "When I promised to do my best to do good by you, not breaking you was pretty high on the list of priorities." He sighed and pulled back, looking at her carefully. "If you're asking to be with me in a relationship, I'll _consider_ trying. Maybe. As I said, I'm not really sure, but I'm also not fighting the imprint which means not completely fighting you if you want me. But there are conditions that can't be broken, for everyone's safety really, and I'm not sure they are conditions you'll be willing to accept. When a man finds another man in his girl's bed, he gets angry. When a wolf finds it, someone's liable to die."

"You'd kill someone else for touching me?" Cassie asked quietly, and he frowned.

"Me? No. The wolf? Maybe. It's been getting a little more involved in things because of you, so the possibility is there. But maybe I would too. My temper has always been something that I have to work to control, and when taken by surprise, I don't always act the way I would hope to. Like I said, I don't know, Cass."

Cassie reached up and touched Paul's face lightly with her fingertips. He didn't encourage it but he didn't pull away, so Cassie leaned in and brushed her lips across his softly. Paul waited a moment, but then he tightened his hold on her hips, his mouth slanting down over hers. He was a good kisser, letting her lead just enough to show him what she wanted before taking control and kissing her with more dominance. Cassie made a little noise in her throat when his fingers dug almost painfully into her hips as he pulled her even tighter against his lap. He wanted her on some level, she could tell, the physical proof was obvious. That had been all she needed to know. Cassie eased back from the kiss, before nipping his lower lip lightly and pulling away.

"I think, Paul Coho, that at the moment, your imprint wants to know what _you_ want. I'm not a big fan of this whole desire to make the imprint happy at your own expense thing, and you obviously don't like it either, so I'm not going to use that against you to get my own way." Cassie smiled at him impishly. "I have plenty of other methods of getting my way that are much more fun, anyways. So, Paul Coho the man, not the wolf. What do _you_ think? What exactly do _you_ want from me, and from this?"

He blinked, as if the fact she had asked him had taken him by surprise. Then his face cleared and he nodded thoughtfully. "I think I just want to be friends for now, Cassie. I want time to get to know you." Paul suddenly grinned, a beautiful smile that lit up his face and left his caramel colored eyes sparkling. "And I want the right to kiss you senseless every once in a while, Cass. I like doing that. And I get to hold your hand, I like doing that too."

"Okay, I'm in," Cassie chirped. "And I reserve the right to continue seeing whoever I want to until we discuss this again. Agreed?"

Paul growled angrily against her jaw, then laughed suddenly, kissing her enthusiastically for a minute or two before wrapping her up in his arms.

"Are all you wolves this bi-polar?" she teased as Paul buried his face against her neck, inhaling deeply as he hugged her tightly.

"Sometimes," he chuckled against her skin. Then he looked at her. "Are you feeling better now? Because I need to get to work. I've got an imprint's ice cream habits to support."

Cassie laughed and rested her forehead against Paul shoulder, enjoying being like this with him. Paul gave really good hugs. "Yeah, I feel fine. More than fine, really. I feel like Seth wrapped me up in bubble wrap and gave me a happy pill. Does that make any sense?"

"A little," Paul nodded. "The Pack bonds act like an emotional support system. We could be angry or afraid or worried, but the Pack as individuals care about each other, and that emotion carries through to each other when we're phased. It helps us feels better. The stronger wolves, mainly Jake and Seth, can manipulate that emotion to some degrees. Not everyone needs the same level of comfort and support at the same time, so instead of spreading it out among the Pack, they can gather it up and fold one of us up in a bigger dose of that comfort. That's what Seth did to you, he tried to reach you through the imprint bond between you and me, and then he gave you that comfort. Only you kind of overdosed on it. Seth made you feel so happy and protected and not in pain that he accidentally knocked you out for all those hours. It scared him, Cass, he was afraid you weren't going to wake up."

"But you weren't scared?" Cassie questioned, and he shook his head.

"Nope. Because what you feel in huge amounts rebounds back to me, so while Seth was freaking out, Leah says I was just happy as a clam. You felt like everything was safe and good, so I kind of did too. In hindsight, it was a bad idea, but it helped in the moment, and I'm not going to be angry with Seth for something that turned out fine in the end. I am interested in what would have happened if Jake had done it instead. Either he would have naturally had the knack for wrapping Pack around you and would've known when to back off, or his greater strength would have left you and me in Happy Town for several more days. It's kind of an interesting thought."

"Jake's the…?"

"Jake's my Alpha," Paul stated, unaware of how much pride came through his voice as he spoke those three words.

"The boss?" Cassie extrapolated and Paul nodded.

"On every possible level you can think of. A boss we can't say no to. To some degree we can resist the orders he gives if it matters enough to us, but all he has to do is tighten down on us and we cave. He's very strong, but he's also a good guy, and I think that matters more than anything. Take this for instance: we ran into a lone wolf a while back, one that just recently joined our Pack, and Jake started thinking that there might be more Packs around."

"Like those three the other day?"

"Exactly. So he's been gone for the better part of a year now, trying to track down any Pack he could find, but then he found out that a kid from somewhere other than the rez had phased and has been running freaked, probably for months now. Jake stopped everything he was doing, and he and our new wolf have been chasing this kid all around Central America. They've been trying to get him to calm down so they can help him realize why he's a wolf now. The kid's good enough to keep giving them the slip, but they keep chasing him because Jake's worried that the kid's gonna get killed by one of the nastier Packs he's found. He cares, even about a stranger. Like I said, he's a good guy."

Cassie hummed thoughtfully, soaking up what Paul had said, and enjoying leaning against him. He seemed to have momentarily forgotten about the basketball game and was contentedly pressing his nose against her throat, breathing in deeply.

"Hey, Paul?" Cassie asked curiously, feeling his warm breath against her skin.

"Hmm?

"It kind of seems like you're sniffing me," she admitted, and he smiled against her throat.

"I am."

"Oh, okay," Cassie nodded. Then she tipped her head to the side. "Hey, Paul?"

"Hmm?"

"Why exactly are you sniffing me?"

Paul pulled back and grinned at her. He kissed her, taking her face in his hands and tipping her head back. Cassie sank into the feeling because she liked kissing, and that the pleasant warmth running from her fingers to her toes was being intensified by the fact that it was Paul kissing her instead of someone else.

"I'm _sniffing_ you," Paul rumbled softly, his hands sliding down her sides and coming back to rest on her hips. "Because to the wolf your scent is better than your lips…" He kissed her again lightly. "Or your tongue…" He deepened the kiss, sliding the tip of his tongue skillfully across hers. "Or your skin…" His thumbs slid beneath the hem of her shirt just enough to brush rough calluses against her hipbones, sending a shiver up her spine. Then Cassie was suddenly on her back on the couch, Paul leaning over her as he grinned down at her. "Or your squinty eyes, or your annoying mouth, or your big ears…"

Paul started listing off things that were unlikeable about her, leaving wet sloppy kisses on each part as Cassie giggled and shrieked and declared him a liar because her eyes may be squinty and her mouth annoying, but there was no way she had big ears.

"You have got to be the _meanest_ wolf to their imprint, Paul," Cassie decided as Paul flipped over on his back and dragged her up next to him, his arm around her.

"Oh, I am," he agreed contentedly, turning his attention back to the game. The Wizards were still losing.

"You sound proud," she snickered and he flicked her forehead again.

"I am that too. Damn that's the end, huh? I can't believe we lost again." He grunted and turned off the television. "I gotta go to work," he told her abruptly, but he stayed where he was and Cassie grinned.

"Then go."

"I can't. Your enormous self is on my arm, Cass. What do you weigh, fifteen, twenty pounds? God, you're such a beast."

"I have just figured it out, Paul. In being a disagreeable and unpleasant person you have distinguished yourself from all of my other suitors and in doing such have at least won my eternal interest, if my uncertain and reluctant regard. We're not Romeo and Juliet, to fall in love instantly. Instead I am Elizabeth Bennet and you are Mr. Darcy, and after we have tired of the drama and the endless repertoire of clever commentary, we will come to an eventual and romantic understanding, fall madly in love, and live happily ever after. Right, Paul?"

Cassie grinned at him and flopped on his arm, trying to crush it as Paul smirked over at her. "Yeah. Sure. Probably not. You need to read something other than the classics, Cass, because that kind of thing is pretty unrealistic. Dramatic instant love isn't real love, and love sprung from verbal warfare isn't love either. Real love comes slowly and takes time to build. If you need drama or pain to fall in love then you're doing it wrong."

"You're a walking contradiction, Paul," Cassie decided thoughtfully. "The imprinted shape shifting wolf who doesn't believe in love at first sight. How_ever_ will you manage?" She raised a skeptical eyebrow and then laughed as he growled at her playfully and nipped her throat lightly in rebuke.

"Be good, Cass," he murmured, and then nuzzled her one more time. "Okay, I really have to go. Try not to get into any trouble in the next ten hours please. I like my job, and I'd like to keep it."

Paul stood up and found his shirt, tugging it over his head as Cassie boldly watched. Then she grinned at him impishly. "Jobs are so passé, Paul. You should become independently wealthy like me. It makes things so much more exciting."

He smiled slightly and came back over to the couch, leaning over so that his mouth was right next to her ear. "Yeah, but then I'd be the lonely girl in the hotel room, and no one wants to be her. Call you later, Cass." He kissed her cheek quickly and then strolled out, her eyes following him as he went. Then she smiled and curled back up into the couch, grateful for Seth and his ability to make her feel so good. Because if he hadn't…well…then things could kind of suck.

It was possible that Paul just might have hurt Cassie's feelings with that last one.

* * *

It was another wild night at the Carter's.

Several houses down the street, Seth Clearwater sat on his front porch railing, balanced easily as he idly carved a chunk of wood. He seemed relaxed, at ease as he focused on the project in his hands, a small piece of rosewood that would hopefully at some point be a tiny jewelry box for his sister. In actuality his entire attention was focused on his neighbor's home, and somewhere inside, his neighbor's daughter. Another wild night at the Carter's meant a bad night for Sims, and a bad night for Sims could mean a bad night for them all.

One of these days Embry was going to kill someone, and Seth was pretty sure it might end up being someone in that house right now.

In Seth's own personal opinion, old man Carter had no business having a houseplant in his care, let alone a teenage girl. Not for the first time, Seth wondered if everyone would be better off if someone just called child protective services and let them cart Sims out of there, probably kicking and screaming. Because no matter what Samantha told Seth, no matter how many times she said it, no girl should have to live being screamed at by a man twice her size and surrounded by drunken assholes three times her age. And it wasn't as if this was a rare occurrence, one night out of every three something was going down over there. And since Sims had moved into town, Seth had listened to this enough times that he could almost predict what would happen next.

It was almost ten thirty at night, meaning that the voices had already grown much louder than normal. Soon there would be a couple crashes from Sims's back yard, because those asses seemed to find it fun breaking things when they were piss drunk, and then it would be followed by Carter bellowing at Sims to bring them all something. Food, alcohol, whatever. And the shit of it was that as absolutely stubborn and intractable as Sims was around everyone else, as nearly impossible as it was to get her to do anything she wasn't completely on board with, she always, _always_, did as Carter told her. She didn't complain and she didn't yell back at him, at least not often, and especially not now that she knew the Pack was listening. She'd fetch him and his friends their beers like a good little girl, and then she'd retreat to her front porch with her school books and try to block out the insanity that was always there in the background.

It hurt Seth's heart to watch it. That wasn't a family, and that wasn't a healthy place to grow up in, surrounded by anger and drunkenness. But it was one of the many unpleasant things that sometimes happened here on the reservation. This was a place where too many people lived on government subsidies, relying too heavily on Caucasian guilt money because they weren't educated enough to find better jobs outside of the reservation, or couldn't afford the move away from the reservation, or (if they were old enough) were afraid of life anywhere else. There were few things as difficult as trying to convince a broken down middle aged man who had only known construction and fishing his whole life to go out in the world and try to find a different career. In a place this small there were only so many jobs, which led to an overabundance of unemployment. Unemployment led to substandard housing, and the depression that usually accompanied living in squalor often segwayed directly into alcohol or drug abuse.

Seth sometimes wondered if he could've turned out that way if things had been different. In twenty years that could've been him and Jake and the other guys, drinking and breaking things to work off their frustrations. As hard as being a wolf could sometimes get, at least the Pack kept them on track. It was hard to drink your problems away with this high of a metabolism. Too bad turning into a wolf couldn't be the normal cure for alcoholism.

It was a big problem on the rez, one of many the Council tried daily to fix, and one that soon would be Jacob's and Seth's problem to fix. Joseph Carter wasn't the exception to the rule, it was just Sims's unfortunate luck to have a father who was so open in his disgust for reservation life. Carter thought that the Council should have done better for the tribe, and that if he had been allowed on the Council, it would have done better. The Pack and the elders firmly disagreed with that statement, but there were others on the rez that sided with Carter and his friends, and it divided the Quileute people in half. Even now, there was vying for position for who would be on the Council after Old Quil died. God forbid something happened before Seth and Jake reached an appropriate age to take their place as elders, because there were certain people that should _never_ learn the secrets of the Pack.

Carter was first and foremost of those people, and the bitch of it was that Carter knew, _he knew_, that Sims knew more than she was saying. It was part of why he treated her so badly. Sims always kept her mouth shut, was always loyal to Embry and therefore indirectly loyal to the Pack, but the male elders feared that she would talk to her father, and Sims was treated with distrust by them because of that fear. She was treated with contempt by those who felt similarly about her father, and was treated the same by her father's friends, who knew she spent time with Embry and Embry's friends, the gang of the reservation, whom they hated. She was in a no win situation, and sometimes Seth thought that Embry and Leah were the only ones that poor girl had on her side.

Seth wanted to be on her side. He just wasn't sure he had the luxury of doing so. A crash similar to a glass bottle breaking made him grimace, so much so that he almost missed the sound of his sister walking barefoot out of the open front door.

"Sounds like fun huh?" Leah quipped, smirking at Seth as she leaned against the railing at his side. Leah had been sleeping, catching up on much needed rest after patrolling Seattle and then staying with Seth throughout the whole Cassie thing. Seth didn't really want to think about that. No one was blaming him for knocking out Paul's girl for over a whole day, not even Paul, but it still bothered Seth. A lot. Jake had actually found it pretty funny after being reassures Cassie had woken up, but Seth wondered if he hadn't been Beta if Jake would have been so lenient. Seth certainly wouldn't have been with any of them.

"Sounds like something," Seth murmured in reply, turning the wood over in his hand as he tried to decide which side had the prettiest wood grain. Leah might be tough as hell, but she was still a girl. She liked pretty things just as much as any girl did and she tended to like delicate pretty things more than anything. Finding the side with the smallest swirls, the ones he thought she'd like the most, Seth continued carving.

"You know, you don't have to watch her like this, Samantha can hold her own," Leah told him, bumping his hip with her shoulder. "She's got her reasons for putting up with their shit, so you can let her be."

The girl in question had just gotten annoyed enough to retreat from the house, finding refuge on the front porch steps like normal. She had a book in her hands and a pad of paper, so he assumed it was her homework.

"Emb's picking her up soon," Seth said told Leah, glancing at Sims before returning his attention to his hands. "She called him to see if she could spend the night at his place. I'm making sure he doesn't…"

"Go completely fucking nuts?"

"Something like that."

"Well, he's coming, so pull your Beta pants on, little bro, and get ready," Leah chuckled, but Seth noticed that she was watching the neighbor's house just as intently as he was.

Sure enough, the rumble of Embry's ancient truck could be heard long before it came into sight, and even though they were down the street, Seth could see Sims perk up when she finally heard it. By the time the truck had pulled up in front of the house, Sims had a bright smile on her face, one that was reserved just for Embry. She didn't go running to him, but she did stand up and wait for him to climb out of the truck, her smile growing as he headed straight for her. Seth tensed as he watched Embry evaluate Sims, tensed more as he watched Embry turn his slightly darkened eyes to the house and the men inside. But then Embry grinned at Sims and snatched her up into a huge hug, kissing her briefly before dragging her to his truck. He helped her inside then glanced over at Seth and Leah, nodding slightly. Embry knew they kept an eye on her, and he appreciated it.

Seth didn't do it for Embry, at least not as much as Embry thought he did.

Just like normal, Seth watched Embry slap the hood of the truck lightly as he headed around the front and hopped inside. Emb stole a kiss from Sims, then another one before turning around in the street and heading the other direction. Apparently Embry wanted to drive, maybe to take his girl somewhere to have fun or to just relax and enjoy the evening before heading back to his and Quil's place. And just like normal, watching the two made Seth uncomfortable. Hell if he knew why.

"Can I ask you something?" Leah suddenly said, turning and leaning back against the railing so she was facing their house. "Does it ever, I don't know, make you feel weird seeing them together? Like something's off about it?"

"There's a lot of stuff off about Emb right now, Leels," Seth replied, running his thumb over the wood and turning the piece in his hand. "But yeah, I know what you mean. I've never really cared about who any of the Pack dated, that's their business. But even before Sims found out about us, the way they were around each other always seemed…"

"Off," Leah supplied and Seth nodded.

"Yeah."

"Glad it's not just me."

It wasn't just Leah. It was Sam, too, and Paul and Collin. Most of the Pack grew uncomfortable seeing them together, although no one could really explain why. But then again, Sims tended to pull interesting reactions from people. It wasn't that she was an unlikeable girl, and besides being kind of quiet and standoffish, she didn't do anything to make anyone dislike her. But there was something about her that either made you gravitate towards her or shift away. Embry was on her like a fucking magnet, but then again, Leah and Seth had been too. The rest of the Pack had been more reserved, making Emb think they didn't like her. It wasn't true. But something was just…_off_. Seth couldn't explain it.

At least Cassie, Paul's imprint, was normal. Sure, she was pretty damn quirky, but anyone who knew Paul knew that normal girls bored him too easily. At least Cass might keep his interest, what with spinning him around in circles as she was liable to do. Listening to Paul's remembered conversations with his imprint tended to leave Seth a little confused and made him feel kind of dumb, not that he would ever think that around his sister. She'd tease him mercilessly.

Speaking of the sister, Leah was peering at Seth's project with interest. "What's that going to be?"

"A surprise," he winked at her and Leah grinned back, looking pleased.

"A surprise for me?" she asked hopefully. Harry had used to do the same thing, carving little trinkets for Sue and Leah, and it was a tradition that Seth had picked up when he was old enough to realize the girls in his family missed getting them. Seth knew he wasn't a very good replacement for his dad, but little things like this he could do.

"Maybe," Seth drawled, teasing her. "Or maybe it's a surprise for my other big sister. I hear she's much nicer to me than you are."

"Bullshit, I'm the best big sister ever, Seth, and don't you forget it," Leah decided, and then she stretched, yawning. "We need to have a meeting soon. I stopped by to see Paul at the pizza place, and he wanted you to know that he's got the new rotation finished. He also said that besides being a little stoned on Pack induced happiness, Cassie's fine and to stop beating yourself up over it."

"Do I look like I'm beating myself up over it?" Seth wondered and Leah grinned at him.

"You wouldn't be Seth if you didn't beat yourself up over your mistakes. You should be more like me, kid. Take your mistakes and own 'em, like that's what you had planned on doing all along."

Seth chuckled at that and then hopped off the railing. "I'd probably rather just forget this one, if it's all the same, Leah. I kind of feel like a dumbass for knocking out Cass like that. I can't believe Paul's still being so cool about it, even after the effects wore off him."

"He probably just liked having a few hours of silence. That girl can talk, can't she?" Leah shook her head then yawned a second time. "Well, Embry didn't kill anyone, and Samantha's as safe as she can be, as long as Embry doesn't kill her either. I'm off to bed, pup, cause I've got nothing better to do."

"Pup?" Seth raised an eyebrow. "We phased at the same time, Leels. Plus I outrank you, remember?"

"Aww, the pup has such cute little fangs," Leah laughed and ruffled his hair while Seth mock growled at her. "We need to get you imprinted, Seth. That way you can worry about your own personal life instead of having to babysit everyone else's. And stop stalking Samantha. It's kind of weird."

"I'm not weird. And I'm not stalking her!" Seth glared at his sister indignantly.

"Bull_shit_," Leah teased, stepping back and smirking at Seth.

"I'm not!"

Leah just laughed again and headed back inside. Seth grinned and shook his head. Okay, so maybe Seth was stalking her a _little_. It was just that from the moment he first saw her, there was something that made it important for Seth to keep an eye out for Sims. It wasn't a crush, not that Seth didn't find her moderately attractive. He just was really good at following his instincts and his instincts said to protect her. So that's what he did.

Seth thought about going for a run, but then thought better of it. Maybe he should bug Leah instead. After all, it was rare he and Leah actually had time to spend together when there wasn't at least one other wolf around. Especially now, because ever since another Pack had made a specific reference to knowing La Push had a female, Jake and Seth had Leah guarded constantly. For the record, Leah just _loved_ that. Seth followed her in the house, suddenly grinning like the irritating little brother he had always been. After all he had three more hours until patrol.

Seth was sure he could find plenty of other things to do to annoy his sister between now and then.

* * *

It was only about a thousand miles between Seattle and Saskatoon, but it took Tupkuk and the twins traveling half again that distance to avoid the Calgary Pack's territory. Therefore it was with annoyance that they turned northeast outside of Helena, Montana only to find the lone wolf waiting for them.

The Alpha was tempted to kill it. But then again, he was tempted to kill a lot of things.

Tupkuk might not have held any respect at all for the Calgary Pack, beyond the fact that they were large and that meant they were a danger to his own much smaller Pack, but he didn't normally go looking for trouble. Calgary was led by a wolf that should never have been allowed a Pack of his own, and whom Tupkuk himself had at one point considered killing simply for the good of all the Packs. However that was when Wihl and Hla'o had chosen him as their Alpha, a responsibility he would not have wished upon himself but one he took very seriously, and therefore he had decided to leave Calgary be. It had been a wrong decision, because Calgary had now grown too strong to fight alone, but Tupkuk knew better than to allow his wolfborn to get used to killing Alphas. They might grow to like it.

The Calgary wolf stood with his legs braced in an aggressive stance, one that immediately irritated Tupkuk, even though he tried to ignore it. The Calgary Alpha was overly aggressive and violent by nature, traits which carried over to his wolves, but Tupkuk knew that wasn't their fault. A Pack was derived from their Alpha, and it wasn't their decision if they were led astray.

Wihl and Hla'o liked their Alpha. They could kill the Calgary wolf for him, if he wanted.

Tupkuk sighed and phased, preferring to hold this conversation in human form. Tupkuk had been raised Pack, having phased young, but he knew that he was as much a human as a wolf and humans talked out their disputes. If that didn't work, well then, Tupkuk would just have to phase back and finish it wolf style. The wolfborn stayed as they were, crouched down at their Alpha's side. They weren't quite as much human as they were wolf, but they knew how strong their Alpha was, so they weren't worried. And they weren't very good at talking things over anyways.

The Calgary wolf phased as well, stretching his long tanned arms so that the muscles and bones could pop back into place, the heavy tattooing that was a trademark of his Pack rippling along his skin. Then he flashed a white toothed grin at the three.

"It's been a long time, Tupkuk," the wolf said, standing easy despite being outnumbered. "I see your pets haven't abandoned their master yet. Is there a particular reason you're on our land or are you just sightseeing?"

Tupkuk narrowed his eyes, although he kept his voice easy. "I wasn't aware that this was Calgary territory. We passed through a week ago with no problems."

"Yeah, well, the boss man is expanding. You should spend more time in the real world, old boy, get a computer or a cell phone or something. We sent out a memo." The Saskatchewan Alpha raised an eyebrow, and the Calgary wolf laughed. "Maybe not. The point is this is our territory now, and you're intruding. Boss don't like that very much, and he told me to give you a message."

Tupkuk smiled softly. "Take care, brother. Your Alpha is too far from here to do anything should I take offense at your message. Perhaps he should carry it to me himself, just to be on the safe side."

"Threats, Tupkuk?" Calgary mocked. "And here you're always so passive. Perhaps we might make a wolf of you yet."

Ah. So that's how far it had gone. Tupkuk closed his eyes, letting old memories of warm fires and soft arms, heavy smoke and the beating of drums fill his senses, good memories that tempered his desire to bring this self assured little whelp crashing to his belly, to leave him whining and begging for forgiveness in the dirt. Whispers on the wind, words chanted in his ears, and he agreed. But still…it was always good to practice restraint.

The Alpha crouched down on his heels, never taking his eyes off of the Calgary wolf. "Wihl, Hla'o, do you know what a weasel is?"

The twin steel grey wolves tipped their heads to the side simultaneously, ears perked, turning bright blue eyes to the Calgary wolf with interest. Tupkuk rested a light hand on Hla'o's ruff as he shifted ever so slightly, and at the touch the wolfborn went still. "A weasel is a small vicious animal, a rodent really, that is a very effective hunter. Often times it kills in an overabundance, taking more than it will ever need simply because it can."

The Calgary wolf snarled, but Tupkuk murmured, "Silence, brother." It instantly cut the wolf off, and for the first time the Calgary wolf looked worried. Tupkuk continued speaking to his own. "There is a difference between a wolf and a weasel. The wolf kills what it needs to survive, but only that, wisely respecting those that will one day feed its empty belly. A weasel is _sometimes_ respectful enough to kill only what it needs, but when in a bloodlust it kills indiscriminately, full of greed and violence. It kills until there is nothing left to kill, wasteful and self indulged, foolishly unable to see that if it takes all, there will be nothing left in the future to fill its belly. Now, what do you think? Is our friend here a wolf or a weasel?"

Wihl blinked his brilliant blue eyes and Hla'o whined eagerly.

"I agree," Tupkuk inclined his head. "But I'm not hungry, not today, and it will not harm this old wolf to travel a little further so not to disrupt the rodents. Come, brothers. If Calgary wishes to speak to me, he is always welcome. But allowing this one to talk will only get himself killed."

Tupkuk allowed his hold on the younger wolf to fall, and immediately it phased, snarling furiously. Wihl watched it in interest, but Hla'o was distracted by a nearby owl, finding the way it turned its head to be fascinating. The Calgary wolf bared its teeth, but Tupkuk ignored it, choosing instead to phase back to his wolf form. By the time his thick silvery fur had stretched over his skin, Calgary had already lunged and been taken to ground by Wihl, the wolfborn's teeth buried into Calgary's jugular. Tupkuk shook himself to settle his fur, he hated how fluffy he could be when phasing in this kind of humidity, and Hla'o's neck hurt when he tried to turn his head around like the owl did. Wihl snapped his jaws together quickly, having been taught by his Alpha never to extend a kill, because cruelty was never acceptable under any circumstances. Wihl watched with interest as the downed wolf slid back into human form, his throat ripped out viciously and his eyes glassy in death. The Calgary Alpha wouldn't be happy. Hmm. Perhaps he should have asked first.

Perhaps. But Tupkuk was pleased that it had occurred to Wihl that perhaps he should have asked first, and he was proud of his wolfborn. Hla'o whimpered and thought he might have broken his neck, and the Alpha sighed. Well, Tupkuk was mostly proud.

Tupkuk and Wihl padded over to their brother's side, Tupkuk resting his nose against the youngest wolf's ruff, reassuring Hla'o that his neck was not broken. Relieved, Hla'o regained his feet and growled at the owl. Wihl bumped his shoulder, regaining his attention, and as one the Pack continued their trek home. It had been an interesting couple of days. Hla'o just wished the La Push wolf had been stronger so he could have gotten to kill something too. Wihl wondered if this meant that Calgary would want to come play with them instead of La Push, and Hla'o found the idea appealing.

The Alpha considered it. Perhaps. Killing Calgary's wolf was sure to rile him up, and maybe take his attention away from La Push long enough for the young Alpha to return in time. As he had stated before, Tupkuk had no intention of ever letting Calgary get his hands on a she-wolf.

Their Alpha wanted to play too?

Maybe just this once.

Tupkuk's tongue lolled out in amusement as a shiver of anticipation went through the twins. Then Tupkuk sat back on his haunches and raised his muzzle to the sky, howling out their challenge. They waited, and then far off to the north, a multitude of voices rose in answer. Tupkuk gave a wolfish grin and then led his Pack directly towards Calgary. Perhaps they would disrupt the rodents after all.

This was two the La Push Alpha owed him. If they survived, Tupkuk might just have to decide what he wanted as payment.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N This is a long chapter, so get comfy. Timeline wise, we are right before the Council kicks Sims out of the bonfire and Embry gets growly about it. That will happen in the next chapter, and the Pack will try and force Sims to change in either the next chapter or the one after that. By chapter nine or ten we should be in all new stuff, post Jake imprinting, and be prepared for this fic to be longer than the previous one. A huge thanks to my reviewers: _pinkshirt, (live, laugh, love, life, for some reason the site won't let me type out your actual user name...Sorry!) , LightIsPrecious, Miss Bear, EnglishVoice, mcc3654, Brumby, KerryH, hilja, PinkAzn, Buffk0604, ally leigh, toalli, Jacobleah, hugglesbunny, _and_ LucyPenny_. Loving the feedback! :D

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Six

The girl was screaming.

The girl was screaming because the girl was dying, and the way she was dying was a particularly bad way to go. She had been brought out to the middle of the desert to be killed by the eldest of them, so not to disrupt the rest of the others in the coven. The eldest had volunteered for this task, because even those who had been dead for centuries sometimes were still disturbed by this part. No one enjoyed remembering what it was like to die, not even him, the one who had caused the girl to scream these last three days. His coven didn't like death. Instead they preferred to consider themselves lovers of life. Life blood kept them moving, talking, working, and living long after their allotted time had ended. And soon they would have another in their coven, one to care for and train to love life the way they did. Only a little bit longer and the girl would finish the change, her cancer riddled body now having a new chance to be whole. A new chance to finally _live_.

The girl never got that chance. She was still screaming as the young wolf appeared out of the darkness, letting out a horrible snarl as it threw itself onto the unsuspecting vampire next to her, tearing his head from his shoulders. She was still screaming when the wolf turned towards her, driven into an infuriated frenzy at hearing her pain. It took out its rage by attacking the vampire again, shredding him to pieces beneath claws and teeth. Still she screamed. Finally the wolf padded over to her side, whining miserably. It nuzzled her behind the ear and licked her face to try and comfort her, but the girl was beyond help now. Her scent was changing into something inhuman, something that burned its nostrils, sickening it. She was still screaming as the young wolf slowly stepped over her writhing body, lips wrinkling up to bare gleaming white fangs. She was still screaming…

The screaming abruptly stopped.

* * *

"Hey."

At the sound of his deep rumbling voice, Cassie smiled against her phone's mouthpiece and tilted her head to the side, holding the cell between her cheek and her shoulder. She was in a store, walking slowly along an aisle of gadgets she'd never seen before, but not even shopping could completely take her attention away from the man who claimed she was his soul mate. Cassie hadn't actually seen Paul in several days, but she knew he had been around when she was out, and that he was keeping an eye on things. It was sweet, or it would have been if he and Collin hadn't kept pulling pranks on her. They always pled their innocence but until meeting the Pack, all of Cassie's boots had never disappeared into thin air, only to be replaced by a single pair of dollar store flip flops. On the plus side, she had also never had sacks of sour gummy worms randomly appear in her dresser drawers, or single serving cups of ice cream materialize in her freezer.

The attention was kind of endearing.

Cassie had already spoken to Paul twice today, once because he wanted to tell her good morning at a time he claimed when normal people woke up, and once because the stupid sexy wolf had somehow managed to sneak another alarm clock in her hotel room, even though she had made a sweep to check just for that before going to bed. She had flat out not been able to find it, and after tearing her suite apart while shrieking her promises of retribution, she had been forced to call him before the awful beeping drove her insane. Paul claimed he had no idea what she was talking about but that it was nice hearing her voice before noon, and she had called him several horrible things in Russian and hung up on his laughing ass. But that was two hours ago and she was bored now.

Cassie loved how this guy _always_ picked up when she called him.

"You know, Paul, I think I've figured out what I like about you the most," Cassie informed him cheerfully. "It's your amazing ability to take multiple complex emotions and condense them down into a single expression of greeting. Hey back, soul mate."

Paul chuckled over the line, a low sexy sound that Cassie was pretty sure she wanted to hear for the rest of her life if she could get away with it. "You're in a good mood," he decided, his voice slightly muffled like he was eating something. "What are you doing?"

"Spending copious amounts of my family's dubiously acquired and recently increased fortune. Hey Paul, did you know that they're now making graters for people's feet? Like for cheese only for your toes and heels. It's called a Ped Egg, isn't that weird?"

"Dubiously acquired fortune?" She could hear him raising an eyebrow over the phone and she blew a bubble, letting it pop loudly. The wolves didn't like popping noises, so she had been practicing just for Paul. Normally she didn't expend this much effort on a guy, but she was pretty sure she was falling in love with him. Moderately sure. Maybe sure. She was maybe, moderately, pretty sure she was falling in love with him, but not that Paul needed to know that.

"Don't forget the recently increased part," Cassie reminded him absently. "Hmm. I'm not sure I would trust taking a grater to my foot. What if I accidentally took too much off? Yick."

"Cassie, where are you right now?"

"Wal-Mart," she replied promptly, before grinning and purring into the phone. "Do you want to know what I'm wearing as well, or is the scenery enough for you, Paul?"

This time he laughed outright, and feeling victorious, Cassie grabbed all of the Ped Eggs off the rack and tossed them into her cart.

"Sorry, Cass, my fantasies usually don't include bargain shopping," Paul said, still munching on something. It was probably a pizza because he was supposed to be at work right now. "But Jared's do, if you want to give him a call."

"Naw, I'm a one-wolf girl, thanks though. Oh, look at this. It's a grinder thingy for your calluses, and it's battery charged. That's just bizarre. Really, is it so hard to just get a pedicure every once in a while and avoid the need for power tools? I have nasty feet and even I don't bust out sanders and grinders for them."

"Cassie," He rumbled her name and Cassie couldn't help smiling again.

"Yes, Paul?"

"Why are _you_ at Wal-Mart? That doesn't really seem like your kind of place."

"Because the only thing that annoys my father more than running through our money too fast is running through our money too fast on…hmmm, how about this: Burt's Bees hand cream. It's only $8.99 a jar, Paul, do you want me to grab one for you, too?"

"I'll pass," Paul chuckled. "You're wasting your father's money on stuff you'll never use?"

"Actually I'm wasting my father's business partner's money on things I'll never use, not that there's much of a difference between them anymore. I always donate everything anyway. I just make sure to do it anonymously so that no one can get a tax break out of it. After today the women's shelters of Seattle will be able to boast having the patrons with the best foot care in all the state of Washington. I only spend my own money on myself, in case you're interested. I don't like being beholden to anyone."

"How about food or clothes, Cass, something people actually need and can use?" Paul suggested blandly, and Cassie had the opinion that Paul wasn't particularly impressed by her form of humanitarianism.

"You really don't know a thing about women, do you?" Cassie hummed as she pushed her cart. "Food and clothes are important, but so is going to bed at night feeling good about yourself. No woman wants to feel ugly, and most of those women are coming from ugly enough situations that they don't need to have any more ugliness dumped on top of them. Who can afford makeup when you can't even afford to buy food?"

"Which is why they need the food now, and the makeup can wait until they get a job," Paul countered and Cassie thumbed a nail file before moving on.

"And who hires a woman these days without some sort of polishing up on her?" Cassie shot back. "Everyone donates food and clothes, Paul, but who ever cares about these women beyond making sure they have the basics? Sometimes you need more than the basics to get back on your feet. Whether it's a product of our society or simply an ingrained need, women want to feel pretty, want to be told they are pretty. Sometimes feeling pretty that day gives you the confidence to go get that job and the next thing you know, boom. No more women's shelter. I'm not as shallow as you think. If you want to go with me one day to talk to them, you can. You'll see what I mean."

"What about the men's shelters?" Paul rumbled, his voice only slightly teasing. "Do you get them power tools?"

"Nope. Gift cards. Have you ever seen a proud man have to accept charity? It breaks them. At least with the gift cards they can go out and spend it as they choose, and not feel so much like someone out there is giving them things out of pity." Cassie turned down the end of her aisle, and eyeballed the next one speculatively. "I try to theme things, so maybe I can find some gift cards with little feet on them or something. That would be cute, huh? Paul? You still there?"

"Cass, do you actually give a shit about these people or not?" He asked her quietly, and she could tell that her answer was very important to him. So she considered that answer carefully.

"Yes and no," Cassie admitted with complete honesty. "No, because as long as you keep yourself mostly removed from a situation, it's nearly impossible to _truly_ care. You can _tell_ yourself you care, otherwise you wouldn't be helping them, but without the emotional connection of meeting someone face to face, you're a liar if you say they actually matter. But yes, because I hate it when people hurt. I hate it when people are boxed into corners with no way out, whether it is money or alcohol or drugs or some husband coming home and beating his wife and children half to death. I don't want that, I don't want to live in a world where that's okay. So I try to do what I can to change it, but let's be honest. I could dump thousands of dollars in one charity, and there still would be hundreds of more charities out there that need that money just as badly. It's a little discouraging, feeling like you should make a difference and knowing on your best days you still can't. Which makes it harder to care. So my answer is yes and no."

Paul was very quiet for a very long time, long enough for her to start grabbing her favorite nail polish colors by the handful and dropping them into her shopping cart. Cassie wondered if what she had said had upset him, but then he cleared his throat, saying softly, "Come see me."

"Don't you work today and have a Pack meeting and also patrol later?" Cassie questioned, a little confused. In the last couple of weeks of knowing Paul, he had rarely spent any length of time with her because his schedule was so tight. Paul simply did not skip out of work or patrol, and Cassie could respect a man who worked that hard, even if she would have rather him be not working and with her.

"Come see me," he repeated. "I want to talk to you, Cassie, not just on a phone. Please."

Despite the please, a very uncommon word out of Paul's mouth, Cassie tipped her head to the side and pursed her lips. "That sounds a touch ominous. I don't want to drive eight hours total only to be told bad news, Paul. If I said something that upset you, just tell me now and save me the trouble."

"I'm not upset," he promised, his voice dropping deeper and making a shiver roll down her spine. "But I will be if you don't get your little butt in your car and get here already. I don't like missing you." And with that, Paul hung up.

Cassie chuckled and shook her head. He was a pushy man, her wolf. He'd have to wait though, because Cassie had a whole cartful of things here and another one already up at the front of the store, and she was going to have to wait for the director of the local shelters to come pick everything up like normal. After paying and calling the shelter, Cassie sent Paul a text message, telling him that she had fallen desperately in love with a vampire and she was running away with him and wouldn't be in La Push later. He sent her back a single word, 'Grr.'

Snickering, Cassie dug through her bags for something besides bugging Paul to occupy her time. Cassie knew that he would indulge her by texting back and forth all day incessantly, but she wasn't stupid. Cassie was pretty sure she had already single handedly destroyed Paul's phone bill. Still, she missed talking to him and being around him, and he must have felt somewhat the same or he would've just told her to stop calling. Or grunted at her. Paul grunted a lot.

It took Jesse, the shelter director, almost an hour to get there, and he was looking pretty frazzled as he rushed into the store. Cassie had been waiting patiently next to her carts, idly painting her own nails with one of the bottles of polish when Jesse hustled over to her and swept her up into a huge hug, planting a wet kiss on her cheek. Jesse was not Cassie's normal type, but they had gone out a few times and she respected him. She respected his heart and how hard he tried, and she thought that more people ought to be like this guy. He was a massive man, nearly three hundred pounds of good intentions, and Cassie loved his hugs nearly as much as Paul's. He was also a sweetheart, and Jesse looked enough like a big Eddie Murphy to make her usually flirt with him relentlessly.

"You, honey, are the best," Jesse declared, kissing her one more time before sticking his nose in one of the bags. "You have odd taste in donations, but you are definitely the best."

Cassie laughed and handed him an envelope. "These are for the guys, Jesse. The rest of the bags are for the women. It's a little less than normal because my presence is being requested in La Push today, so I'll probably bother you next week to get the rest of it."

"La Push, huh? You getting into reservation work too, Cassie?" Jesse asked, happily flipping through the gift cards and making sure there were enough for each man at the shelter.

"Nope," Cassie chuckled and finished her last nail before recapping the bottle and dropping it into one of the bags. "Not unless I want to seriously offend my not-boyfriend, Paul."

"Not-boyfriend?" Jesse raised an eyebrow, and Cassie grinned at him impishly.

"Yup, Paul's my not-boyfriend. We're in a not-relationship. I think it's going well, we'll be not-falling-in-love any day now."

Jesse laughed and squeezed her up into another huge hug. "Well, you let me know how that goes, Cassie. Thanks as always, everyone will be real excited about all this stuff."

"Well, that's certainly better than them hating it," Cassie teased as she helped him push one of the carts out to his van. He had parked next to her car, having known which one was hers, and as the large man was loading the bags into his vehicle, she sat on her bumper, tapping her fingers thoughtfully. "Hey Jesse? Would you say that I actually care about your work, or would you say that I'm just filling my time by doing this kind of stuff?"

Jesse glanced at her. "I would say that it doesn't matter how these people get help as long as they get it."

"So the end result is more important than the path that led to it," Cassie murmured, and Jesse leaned his hip against the van, crossing his arms as he frowned.

"I think that if someone's trying to tell you you're not doing good, Cass, then you have them call me. And if it's this not-boyfriend of yours, then I think I'll just call him instead. Paul from La Push, was it?"

Cassie grinned up at Jesse, taking his hand and squeezing it reassuringly. "Naw, it's not Paul. I was just thinking about a question he asked me though, about if I actually cared about helping people. Maybe I don't. Maybe I just sit on the sidelines, letting others really care. Maybe I'm just the nurse handing the doctor the instruments, not really ever getting my hands dirty. It's easier that way, staying somewhat apart from those things that bother me, trying to help from afar."

"Cassie, the staff tells me you're over at the women's shelter at least twice a month just spending time with them. That's not helping from afar."

"Yeah, but the other twenty eight days of the month, what do I do then?" Cassie wondered. "What exactly is my purpose other than playing until I get bored?"

Jesse chuckled and went back to loading the van. "Soul searching, Cass?"

"Possibly," she shrugged. "Someone has recently referred to me as the lonely girl in the hotel room. It kind of hurt my feelings at the time, but then I thought about it. It is kind of an accurate representation. So I've been trying to look at myself, the good and the bad, with totally honesty and I've come to a startling conclusion. Did you know that drinking and sexing my way through the days and nights just might be an empty way of living? It's a fascinating concept, and one I'm not sure I agree with. But I certainly haven't been able to find enough about myself to prove otherwise."

"The not-boyfriend again?" Jesse grumbled and Cassie shrugged.

"Maybe."

"Your not-boyfriend kind of sounds like a jerk, if he's making you question yourself like this," the huge man decided. "You're a good girl, Cassie. You have your faults, but don't go changing yourself to fit someone else. Especially not some guy from La Push."

"Ooh, that was dangerously close to a derogatory statement, Jesse," Cassie teased, but he didn't seem to care.

"The reservations keep to themselves, Cassie, so there are a lot of things the rest of us don't really know about them. You hear rumors coming through though, gangs and fighting and stuff. Just be careful who you get yourself messed up with, honey. You're a little too trusting for your own good."

"Too trusting?" She raised an eyebrow.

"You take everyone at face value, Cass. You're going to get burned."

"I take everyone at face value, and allow them the opportunity to prove themselves wrong about themselves. It's not getting burned when watching others light themselves on fire." Cassie re-crossed her legs than winced, uncrossing them. Jesse noticed and his frown deepened.

"If you're hurting, you shouldn't drive all the way to La Push," Jesse lectured her, and Cassie sighed.

"Yeah, I know," she admitted, but then she brightened up. "But I've never been invited before, and I don't want to miss out. Paul always comes here, not the other way around."

"And when you can't walk when you get there?" Jesse countered. "Or when you crash that pretty little car of yours that you already can't drive because you're too stoned on painkillers? What'll suck more?"

"Ouch. Point to you, but I'll go anyway," Cassie decided. "I'll be functional for at least until tonight, I'll just make sure I get home before my legs give out. Is that the last bag?"

"Yes ma'am. Thanks again, Cassie. You sure you don't want me to write this up for you, so you can at least get a tax write off for it?"

"Nope. I'm still a non-residential alien here, so tax write offs get tricky," she said, and then Cassie smirked up at Jesse. "The family accountant hates me enough as it is. Well, I better get going. I have to go visit a sexy wolf-err…well, okay. If I said I was not-dating a werewolf, would you think I was weird, Jesse?"

"I would say that someone's selling you a real big pile of crap, honey, and you should tell your not-boyfriend where to not stick his not-"

"Okay, okay. You don't like Paul, I get the point," Cassie cut in, laughing as Jesse clamped down on his words, grumbling. She leaned up and kissed his cheek before heading over to her car, smiling over the hood at him. "Be careful Jesse, I might just end up Mrs. Not-Boyfriend one of these days. Wouldn't that be crazy?"

He just grinned at her and waved goodbye.

Cassie checked her watch, realizing that she had already lost an hour and a half. However Paul was going to have to wait some more because no offense, but she was not going onto any reservation wearing what she was wearing. Cassie was all about style, but she had been to several reservations since coming to Seattle in her attempts to get closer to her Native American roots, and she was pretty sure that a micro skirt wasn't going to be appreciated. To be honest, not much of her Eastern Slavic features were going to be appreciated, but a more conservative outfit choice was better. Cassie wasn't big on adjusting herself to fit what others wanted from her, but she had an exquisite sense of the appropriate.

Appropriate was a pale blue cashmere sweater and black Chanel pants. Appropriate was sending Paul a text message saying she was leaving soon, and sending a smiley face afterwards just because he always seemed so serious. Appropriate was getting caught on the hotel phone by her mother and not giving her opinion on anything for twenty whole minutes before finally being allowed to hang up. She even sent Paul another text message saying she was running even later, along with a picture message of her pointing an imaginary finger gun to her head while still imprisoned on the hotel phone. She didn't want her wolf to worry.

See? So what if her mother thought she should get dragged back to Russia by her ears before she ended up humiliating the entire family. At least she was thoughtful.

Collin sent her back a picture of Paul behind an empty bar counter, pointing a soda dispenser gun at Collin's phone, and inevitably at her. He followed it with a text saying, 'Paul Coho: putting women out of their misery since 1989' and as she laughed, Cassie decided that sore legs or not, she was definitely going to La Push. She had a feeling that in the small town there were at least two people who could appreciate her, despite all her faults. Who knew? Maybe there were more. Maybe Cassie would finally find something better.

If not, well, at least she had the drinking and the sexing to fall back on.

* * *

Seth looked preoccupied.

The Beta was perched up on top of his house's roof, watching his Pack mull about as they waited for the meeting to start. At Seth's side, Paul was glancing through the sheets of paper on his lap, hoping to catch any last minute mistakes in the patrol schedule he had worked out. If he didn't catch them, the Pack certainly would, and it was always better to not have to look like an incompetent slacker in front of his Beta. It was almost as embarrassing to be called out in front of Seth as it was to be called out in front of Jake.

"You okay, Seth?" Paul asked as he scanned his own work, sparing a quick glance for the younger wolf. The stress of leadership seemed to weigh a little heavier each day on the Beta's shoulders, and Paul wasn't the only one who had noticed. They were all trying their best to make life as easy as possible for Seth, to be perfect for him to try and alleviate that strain. Well, all of them but Embry that was. When Embry was in control, he was trying, but too much of the time now Emb was all over the place.

"Yeah." That was it, a clipped answer, and when Seth went monosyllabic they all knew better than to push.

"Cass is coming down tonight," Paul mentioned, checking his watch. "I talked to her at noon, so hopefully in another half hour or so she'll be here. If she would stop texting Collin so much, she would've been here already."

"That's cool," Seth perked up a little, having the imprints around usually helped bring him out of his funks. "You want me to take your shift so you can hang out with her? It's gonna rain hard, I think, and I don't mind running wet as much as the others."

"Nope, I want you to get some rest," Paul chided Seth gently. "Not that you will. I was hoping some of the guys could take her around and keep her occupied until I got done. She's a night owl anyway, so my being back at ten won't bother her."

"I'll take your patrol," Seth decided in a tone that said that Paul wasn't going to be arguing. "I'm not the only one who's been stretched too thin." At Paul's disapproving expression, Seth smirked. "Trust me, bro. When I imprint, if it ever happens, you guys aren't going to see my ass for a solid month. You're making the Pack too high of a priority, Paul. Being away from her is hard on you, and you know it."

"That's why I asked her to come down," Paul admitted. "Told her really. I even said please, aren't I a nice guy?"

"Rarely."

Paul grinned at that and then looked at his watch again. It was three-thirty on the dot. Paul looked questioningly at Seth, who merely tilted his head and glanced at the Pack. That was all the orders that Paul needed, and he hopped off the roof, landing lightly on the balls of his feet.

"Okay assholes," Paul grunted as he stepped directly beneath where Seth was still sitting on the roof. "Shut up and sit down."

"I love it when Paul runs the meetings," Collin sighed happily to Brady, a little too loudly. "He always makes me feel so good about myself."

Paul leveled a flat look at Collin, who managed a full three seconds of grinning before ducking his head. Jared snickered and wrapped his arm around Leah's shoulders, where she sat looking bored between Jared and Sam. Quil was watching Embry worriedly, because out of all of them, he was the only one who hadn't sat down. Instead he was standing and fidgeting about nervously, seeming even more preoccupied than Seth. Embry didn't even seem to realize they had started the meeting; instead he was staring down the street towards Sims's house even though everyone knew she was covering the dojo for Embry.

"Emb," Paul said softly, then repeated it louder. "_Embry_." Embry jerked and realized that everyone was staring at him and he cursed, flushing slightly as he dropped down quickly next to Quil.

"S'rry," he mumbled, ducking his head and Paul sighed and shoved a stack of papers at Collin, keeping one for himself.

"Okay guys, new patrol schedule," Paul informed them, waiting in amused annoyance as Collin scanned the schedule before realized the Pack was going to strangle him for not passing on their copies. "It's gonna suck for most of us, so keep your mouths shut and deal with it. Look it over. If you wanna bitch, do it now to me, not to Seth and Sam later."

Paul waited as various curses spread through the Pack before speaking. "After that pair of leeches breaking through on Claire and Sims, and with the extra threat from the Saskatchewan Pack, we're not fucking around anymore. We're running four days a week on six hour shifts, three per shift. The other three days a week are on twelve hour shifts, three a shift. Hopefully breaking it up will confuse any leeches trying to sneak through like before. I've got Collin and Brady down to forty-eight hours a week and Quil down to fifty-four because these guys need to pass their classes. Quil especially. Leah, Emb, Seth, you guys are all at sixty hours, and Jared and I are at sixty-six. Anyone who wants to bitch they're running too many hours, feel free to have one of mine or Jared's shifts."

Paul looked apologetically at Sam, who was frowning down at his schedule sheet. "I know you're trying to stop phasing, man, but we're stretched pretty thin. I've got you on thirty hours here, but any extra you can run up in Seattle with me would be really good."

"I can take more hours, Paul," Embry said quietly, folding the corner of the paper in his hands. "Pull more from Quil and Sam and give them to me."

"No."

Embry looked up in surprised at Paul's flat answer, then his eyes narrowed. "I can handle more than this, and you know it. If you didn't have me scheduled every single shift with Seth, then I could take more hours."

Paul crossed his arms over his chest, trying to decide what to do. He didn't want to humiliate Embry, but the more Emb ran, the more likely he was to distract them and make everyone's job harder. And no one but Seth could control him or get him to focus anymore. Embry must have sensed the reason behind Paul's reluctance, because his glare turned more belligerent, and the smell of angry hurt reached Paul's nostrils. No one else said anything. No one wanted to be the one to hurt Embry more.

"If you want to run extra shifts, Emb, then you have to run them with Seth and trade with someone else," was as far as Paul would concede.

Embry snarled at Paul, and Paul bared his teeth back, not liking the way that Embry's eyes would darken so drastically when he was angry. Suddenly Seth dropped down from the roof, landing crouched between Paul and Embry. Paul didn't see what the expression on Seth's face was, but Embry immediately ducked his head, silent. The others seemed like they wanted to find a hole to hide in, Sam looked decidedly uncomfortable, and in being the closest to Seth, Collin and Brady had practically flattened themselves on the ground. Leah looked at her fingernails and yawned.

"Run the patrols as they are," Seth said softly. "And I want everyone at the Makah rez and in Seattle at least once every two days. We need to keep a closer eye on our own." Then he stepped aside, returning control of the meeting to Paul and ignoring the grateful looks Quil and Paul were giving him.

"These patrols last until school is out," Paul continued. "I need to know who's working where this summer, if you are. Anyone who needs extra cash, my uncle is running a second boat for sport fishing this summer, and he needs two extra hands."

"Right here," Brady and Collin chimed in together, much as he had expected. Quil sighed in annoyance.

"Jared, he's keeping a space open for you too, if you're staying around?" Paul asked questioningly. "He wanted you captaining the second boat."

Jared nodded thoughtfully. Paul's friend left every winter for a few months to work the Alaskan fishing boats, a dangerous job that he was suited perfectly for, and depending on the year it sometimes pulled Jared enough cash to take care of him and Kim all year long. But he also had gotten an in through some relatives for working in California's oil refineries. Again, dangerous work, but it kept him and Kim fed with extra to spare and gave him some summer work. Jared was one of the few men that could get tossed into the freezing Arctic waters or get caught in a flash fire and possibly not die. It still scared Kim, though, almost as much as Jared patrolling did.

"Yeah, I'm in. Tell him I want Quil on too, if he can," Jared said, having noticed Quil's disappointment. "He needs the practice if he's going up north with me next winter."

"I'm going up north with you next winter?" Quil raised an eyebrow and Jared kicked him with a bare foot.

"Yeah, if your broke ass isn't too much of a pussy for it," Jared smirked and Quil flipped him off. "You'll be out of school, it's not like Paul is going with his job at the bar, and it's not like you're doing anything else."

No, Paul wasn't going. He was a damn good hand, but he stayed away from the fishing boats unless he _had_ to work them to keep a roof over his head. Personally Paul was fine working them, but for whatever reason, his wolf full on panicked out at sea. The first time he had sailed after phasing, he had almost killed Jared in trying to get back to shore. He could control it much better now, but he preferred not to do that to himself if he didn't have to.

"What about Claire?" Quil looked distressed at the thought of leaving his imprint for months at a time and Jared rolled his eyes, kicking Quil again.

"What about Kim, dipshit? What do you think, we'd ignore her? Paul takes care of Kim when I'm gone, and Emb'll do the same with Claire, like he was a couple months ago. Don't be an idiot."

Embry nodded at Quil, bumping fists lightly, and Quil smiled gratefully. Paul knew what Quil was thinking. Even at starting wages working the fishing boats would be good money, and if he kept with it Quil could definitely make something of himself. None of them were very thrilled at the idea of spending the rest of their lives poor as shit because they spent so much time patrolling. At least Jared and Sam and Quil had it easy. Their girls were used to this kind of life. Paul didn't even want to think about trying to ask Cassie to move into his shack out in the woods and live off of peanut butter and boxed macaroni. He wouldn't do it, plain and simple. Paul would just enjoy the time he got with her as they were, that way he wouldn't ever have to look in her pretty hazel eyes, knowing in his heart that his girl was just slumming it.

Forcing himself away from that line of thought, because it made both him and the wolf unhappy, Paul turned his attention back to the job at hand.

"Emb, obviously you've got the dojo. Let me know if classes pick up more than you and Sims can handle with this schedule. Sam, Leah, Seth, you guys all the same?"

A chorus of nods, and Paul mentally tucked away the information. "That's all I've got. Sam?"

Sam had been idly playing with Leah's shoestring, and he looked up and shook his head. Paul turned to Seth, who was standing staring out at the woods, his eyes glazed. It was the look he sometimes got when Jake was talking to him while Seth wasn't phased, because the effort of it tended to block Seth out from the rest of the world. Seth's face turned from expressionless to a frown, then anger flashed quickly across his features before smoothing out.

"Damn," Seth muttered, shaking his head.

"What is it?" Leah asked her brother, leaning forward.

"Jake and Jack followed the pup into Guadalajara," Seth informed them. "The pup got mixed up in the local coven's business, killed the head leech when he was turning a girl and then killed the girl right before she finished turning. Apparently she had cancer and the coven was turning her at her request. They were like the Cullen's, vegetarians, although they kept it really low key. They went ballistic on the kid. Jake and Jack came into it thinking the coven was attacking the pup just to do it, and they killed half of the leeches before Jake realized the mistake. Jake called Bella, and now Carlisle's flying down there to mediate. Both sides are pretty pissed, and the leeches are demanding the kid get turned over to them."

"They'll kill him," Jared frowned, and Seth nodded bleakly.

"I think that's the point," Seth said. "Jake said no way and won't budge on the matter, and he's pretty pissed himself because Jack got hurt. One of the leeches lost his temper and smashed Jack's foot up when in human form. This pup is becoming more trouble than he's worth."

For some reason that made Leah laugh. "Please," she chuckled, leaning into Jared and looking at her nails again. "The pup had a double kill this young? I think he sounds like he's _definitely_ worth it. And if he's too stupid than to know better than to attack a whole coven by himself, it looks like we've got someone to front our next attack. Like our own personal Emmett leading the charge, and this way we don't have to keep sending Tweedle Stupid and Tweedle Stupider in as our front line," Leah winked playfully at Collin and Brady. "I'm starting to grow fond of our leech fodder."

Brady chuckled at that one, but Collin leaned into Brady, his face serious as he whispered, "I'm Tweedle Stupid now, right? Or is that still you? I thought I didn't have to be Stupider anymore. Between Sims and Leah, I can't ever keep it straight anymore."

"God, he's fucking _retarded_," someone muttered. Paul thought it might have been himself by the slightly hurt expression on Collin's face.

"Anyway, I don't know why you look so worried, Seth," Leah continued. "Jake could take a coven out himself, and he's got Jack there. The leeches are the ones at the disadvantage. My guess is that the only reason Carlisle's flying down there at all is because _Bells_ doesn't think Jake can handle himself. Jake's probably just humoring her by not eating all of them."

Seth frowned again, but then suddenly his face brightened into its normal relaxed smile. "Yeah, you're probably right, Leels. I just don't like Jake down there without us. It bugs. But hey, after this summer he's stuck with us again, so all you little kiddies need to enjoy yourselves while you can. Fun and handsome Uncle Seth's not going to be babysitting forever. Meeting's over, folks. Get the hell out of my yard unless you're Sam and Paul, or you just love me too much to leave. Emb, you stay too."

Paul and Sam shared a look and headed over to Seth as the others scattered slowly. They were used to Seth keeping them after meetings, it was routine from when Jake had Seth running the Alpha's meetings. Jake had always kept Seth and Sam around afterwards to discuss any loose ends that might have sprung up during the meeting, and Seth did the same with Sam and Paul. Embry was new, though. It had started raining lightly during the end of the meeting, but the clouds in the sky had thickened into a dark black mass and the occasional rumble of thunder let them know that soon it was going to pour.

Silently both elder wolves waited as Seth dug around in his pocket for a piece of wood he was carving, and they continued waiting until after Seth had plopped down and started working on it. Not liking being taller than him, both Sam and Paul dropped down to their heels, Embry following suit but staying back a few feet and still looking uncomfortable. After everyone had cleared out of both eyesight and hearing range, Seth glanced up at Embry.

"We're not going to bite, Embry. Come over here," Seth said, his voice gentling enough to make it hard to catch that he was actually ordering Embry. But Paul realized it and Sam did too, and the two shared another look when they realized that Embry hadn't caught it. Instead Embry padded over to them and stood next to Paul, still looking uncomfortable.

"Go ahead, Emb," Seth continued softly, pausing his carving and looking at the other wolf. "We're listening. I appreciate you holding it in the whole meeting, but now tell us what's wrong."

Paul blinked. Obviously he needed to start paying better attention because he'd had no clue Embry had been biting his tongue, or to what degree. But once released Embry looked at all three of them unhappily.

"What's wrong is that this whole rotation thing is bullshit," Embry burst out. "If none of you guys trust me enough to have me running patrol without being babysat, then why the hell are you still having me phase?" Looking a combination of hurt and pissed, he turned towards Paul. "If I'm such a fucking _liability_ on rotation, then why not just cut me out completely? We have Jack now, it's not as if you guys are going to be a man short. You don't need me and if I'm not fucking Pack anymore anyways-"

Paul wasn't sure what about that statement made him so goddamn angry, but it did. Maybe because he was newly imprinted and worried as hell about Cassie being so far away from their immediate protection, and instead of spending every waking moment in Seattle with her, he had spent it making up this damn schedule. And the reason it had taken him so long was he was trying so damn hard to get it perfect and to _not_ upset Embry, because Embry was Pack and that meant that he mattered so fucking _much_ that it was stupid. Or maybe Embry was just good at pissing him off, because Paul had already wheeled around and slammed his fist into Embry's jaw before any of them had realized he was going to do it. Embry staggered back, his eyes flashing even darker than earlier, as he squared with Paul.

"Don't you _ever_ fucking say that to me, Embry," Paul snarled, and Embry straightened threateningly. The wolf inside was whispering a warning, saying this was a fight they might not win, and Paul had no idea what to make of that because he outranked Embry by two positions. Of course he would win.

No, they won't. The wolf needed them to back down, and in confusion, Paul softened his posture. Sam caught Paul's eye, nodding in approval, but Paul wasn't sure if it was for hitting Embry or ending the fight. Seth cleared his throat, gaining their attention.

"Well, since Paul took care of _that_ part of the problem, Sam and I don't have to worry about being offended anymore. Good for you, Embry. It takes a lot to hurt Paul's feelings, and you just succeeded."

Embry had still been glaring angrily at Paul, but at Seth's words, he glanced over at the other two. Seth had a mildly disapproving expression on his face and Sam's arms were crossed as he stared at Embry stonily. The lesser wolf finally softened his own posture, the dark coloring and the anger bleeding from his eyes, leaving just confusion and hurt once again. The storm finally hit, sheeting down on them heavily, but no one made to move inside.

"I don't understand," Embry said softly, his hair and shirt quickly becoming soaked. "I'm trying so hard, but you guys are making me feel like I'm an outsider. What am I doing that's so bad? I know my control's been shaky, but if it's something else…"

"Embry, sit down," Sam suddenly barked. His voice thickened powerfully, and Paul felt the compulsion to obey even though the order wasn't directed at him. Embry looked at Sam in surprise, and then slowly sank down to his heels again. Paul's ass was already on the wet ground.

Seth sighed, going back to examining his piece of wood. "Embry, when Paul ordered you to sit down earlier, you didn't. When Sam ordered you to sit down just now, he said it so strongly that Paul sat too, only Paul was on the ground before you even started to realize that you should listen. The reason you're patrolling with me is that I'm the only one you'll obey anymore. It's not because we don't trust you and it's not because you're not Pack. You're just getting stronger, in ways we're not used to."

"I used to have a hell of a time making Jake listen near the end," Sam said quietly, and Embry grew still. Even though it wasn't stated, they all knew why it wasn't so unlikely that Embry might follow in Jake's footsteps. No one had expected it, and whatever was wrong with Embry seemed different than Jake not wanting to listen to another Alpha, but it was a possibility. Paul really didn't want to think what would happen to the Pack if it split in two again.

"I was researching real wolf packs in the wild," Seth mentioned after a while. "Some packs have a constantly changing chain of dominance. Maybe we're just going through a normal shift and it's centered around you, Embry. I'd have Jake ask Jack, but every time Jake starts to ask him anything about his old Pack, Jack completely shuts down. Trust me, as badass as Jack is, he's no replacement for you, Emb. Jack's got some major issues."

"It'd be cool not to be the fucked up one of the Pack," Embry muttered, and Paul grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, jerking them face to face.

"_Stop_…_pissing_…_me_…_off_," Paul snarled very slowly, punctuating each word with a rough shake of Embry's head, and instead of getting angry back, this time Embry just meekly went limp, allowing Paul to muscle him around. From behind Embry's shoulder, a stark naked Collin poked his head out of the woods, the rest of his body hidden from view.

"Be careful Emb, papa wolf's been extra growly lately," Collin told Embry with a grin. "I blame that hot piece of ass that he's not getting. So don't put yourself down, he doesn't like it." The four wolves looked at him disapprovingly and after getting growled at by at least two of them, Collin swallowed before flashing a bright smile. "Sorry to interrupt, but Cassie hasn't shown up yet and this weather's about to get nasty. Want me to go find her? Since Cass is papa's imprint, I feel personally responsible for her safety. And responsible for her car's safety. Definitely responsible for both of their safeties in equal amounts."

"Jake just _had_ to give me this one," Paul rolled his eyes in exasperation. "At least the next round goes to Embry and Quil, I'm not raising any more pups after Stupid_er_ over here."

"Try a whole Pack," Seth and Sam sighed in tandem, and then both smirked at each other. Seth stood up, tucking his carving into his back pocket. "Well, I think Collin officially ruined the moment, and I promised I'd run Paul's shift. You cool, Emb?"

Embry nodded and Paul, who was still gripping his neck, gave him a final shake before letting go. Embry rolled his neck to the side, cracking it. Then he hopped up and gave them all a sad little look before heading off. His gait was more of a slink than a walk, and Paul wondered if anyone else noticed how much more wolfish Embry was behaving lately. Paul frowned at that and then caught Collin watching him. Collin glanced at Embry and then inclined his head in the slightest nod towards Paul, indicating that he noticed what Paul had noticed. As much shit as they gave Collin, he was far from stupid, and he watched the wolves around him carefully. It was the first thing Paul had taught him: keep your eyes, ears, and nose open at all times. It was something that Paul was really good at, except when a certain blonde wouldn't stop distracting him.

Paul glanced at Seth, who signified they were done, and Paul jogged over to Collin. Together they walked into the woods, and Paul pulled out his phone and called his imprint. It rang three times and then went to voicemail. Paul frowned. Except for the day that Paul had left his first message on Cassie's hotel room answering machine, she had _always_ picked up her phone. It was their thing. A sudden imprint-induced fear ripped through him, base and raw and utterly overwhelming, and shakily Paul hit redial. This time Cassie answered on the second ring.

"Hello?" Her voice was almost lost beneath the heavy pounding of the rain, and for once Cassie didn't sound cheerful.

"Cass? Where are you? Are you okay?" Paul demanded gruffly, but her answer was cut off in the static caused by the storm.

"No…ot okay. The stup…car…pid tire and…to change it but…the stupid tire…off." And then the phone went dead. Paul tried to call her back but her phone went immediately to the answering machine.

"Shit," Paul muttered, looking at Collin. "You busy right now?"

"Nope." Collin spat off to the side before asking, "We rescuing the girl?"

"Yep."

"Cool. I always did like rescuing the girl. It makes me feel all manly and shit," Collin chuckled, cracking his knuckles. And then he did a standing back flip, phasing midair, and landing crouched on all four paws. Paul shook his head as he stripped off his shorts. Collin was a pup, so he still had the tendency for dramatics. However Paul was Collin's mentor of sorts, so it was only appropriate that Paul take a single light step and dive into the air above Collin's back, twisting and phasing and hitting the ground running on Collin's other side.

Grinning that he had gotten Paul to show off for him, something the older wolf only did when the two of them were alone, Collin leapt after Paul and together the two ran, side by side.

* * *

Okay, just for the record, Cassie did not need to be rescued. She had things quite under control.

It really wasn't her fault that when they put this baby together, someone who was _not_ her had forgotten to put in a car jack. She _so_ could change a tire. Well okay, she so knew the theory behind changing a tire, but Cassie didn't think it was that hard. What was hard was trying to do it with no car jack in the middle of a stupid thunderstorm. This would serve her right, buying an American made car just to try and fit in. Stupid Chevrolet. Stupid Corvette. Stupid potholes on stupid Washington roads that pop stupid Firestone tires. Stupid cell phone that wouldn't make a call when she needed it to. There were a whole slew of people that were going to get a strongly worded letter over this.

For the record, Cassie did not need to be rescued, but when Paul and Collin showed up half naked in the rain, she sure looked like it to them. The skies had turned black, leaving very little natural light to see by, and the heavy rains had cut visibility down to only a couple feet. Cassie was crouched down next to her car, drenched through and through and covered from knee to foot with mud. She was about an hour's drive out of La Push where the roads weren't the best, and she was kneeling in one of the same kind of potholes that had killed her car, the water puddle beneath her growing steadily. And she was trying to pull the flat tire off of the car by sheer strength alone. It wasn't working.

With a smirking Collin at his heels, Paul walked up and crouched down next to her, obviously trying to keep the grin off of his face. "Having trouble, Cass?"

"Nope," she smiled at him, although it was a bit more of a grimace than a smile, and she pushed her wet hair out of her eyes with a greasy hand. "I'm just hunky dory. I don't know what that means, but that's what I am. I don't suppose you boys were sweet enough to bring a car jack, were you?"

He did grin now, and he patted her head. "They keep them in the back of the car, Cass. Collin will get it for you. For future reference, you can't pull a tire off the hub with a quarter of the car's weight on it." Cassie kept her smile, although her teeth were grinding together.

Collin ambled towards the trunk of the car, calling out jovially. "Hey Cass, sweetie, why don't you go get yourself warm and let the big strapping men handle this…oh." Collin frowned. "Hey Paul? There's no jack in here." Surprised, Paul headed back and peered in the trunk himself. Sure enough, despite having two bug strapping men staring in the trunk of her car, a jack did not magically appear.

Cassie told them they were both idiots in Russian. She was pretty sure they understood despite the language barrier.

Shivering in the rain, Cassie pulled herself painfully to her feet. Kneeling on the ground the last hour had not been easy on her legs, and they hurt badly. Trying her best to ignore it, she pushed her hair off her face again and went to the back of the car. "Anyone have a phone that actually works right now? Mine won't get reception in this crap and we're stuck until then."

"Get in the car, Cass, and warm up," Paul told her over the boom of thunder. "We'll just lift the car and change it that way."

"You're going to _what_?" She stared at them in confusion, and Collin laughed. Then he gripped the Corvette beneath the bumper and lifted it off the ground. It wasn't that he had been strong enough to lift it that surprised her, she had seen enough strength competitions to know there were plenty of men out there that could do that sort of thing. It was that Collin was doing it one handed and scratching the side of his nose idly with the other that impressed her.

Paul shared an amused look with Collin and the younger man set the car down. Cassie shivered again but she nodded. "Okay, that works too. I've got the lug nuts off, so if you guys will grab the spare out for me, I can finish this."

"We can finish this," Paul corrected her.

"I can finish this," Cassie re-corrected him, still smiling sweetly although her teeth were grinding again. He opened his mouth but she cut him off. "Paul? I'm soaking wet and my legs hurt and I've ruined a three hundred dollar cashmere sweater today. I'm changing my own damn tire, otherwise all the rest of that is pointless, don't you think?"

Paul tipped his head to the side and then suddenly laughed. "Well, then stop standing there and change the tire, girl," he smirked, lifting out the spare and handing it to her.

Cassie grabbed it in both arms, but the weight pulled her down immediately, and she bumped her nose on the tire as she lost her balance. Shooting Paul an annoyed look, she rolled the tire over to the driver's side door. Collin went around to the front of the car, but this time when he lifted it up, he was much more careful about having a tight grip on it. That was good, because Cassie really didn't want a car to fall on her. Not even a nice car.

It was a little nerve wracking, trying to do something she had never done before while a poor kid was holding up a car and Paul was standing beside her with his arms crossed. But with a little wrestling she managed to get the torn tire off, although she was having a bit of a hard time getting the spare on. It was heavy and bulky and she just wasn't very big.

"Hey half pint, I know I'm really strong," Collin complained, "But anytime now you're welcome to finish this. Your car's not exactly light. Hey Paul, help her out, man."

"She's got it," Paul rumbled, smirking at his Packmate as he dropped to his heels next to his mumbling imprint. "Think of this as strength training, Collin. For both of you."

"Think of me and Cass's middle fingers, asshole," Collin growled back and he went to flip Paul off, but when the car creaked scarily and Cassie squeaked, Collin decided to keep his hands where they were at. Paul glared at Collin pointedly, and the younger wolf sighed in resignation, muttering to himself. "One of these days…not gonna be on the bottom…"

"Hey, Paul?" Cassie asked as she finished muscling the spare tire back on. "What's the Pack's stance on a wolf crushing an imprint with a car?"

"Crushing the wolf bone by bone until there's nothing left but a bloody sack of dumbass wolf," Paul replied serenely, and Collin grinned impudently at both of them until Paul glanced at him. "You're good, Collin, drop it down."

"Finally," he muttered, and then smirked at Cassie's offended look as he carefully lowered the car back to the ground. The rain was pounding down so heavily at this point that Cassie had to squint to see Collin as he walked over to her and crouched down next to Paul. "You sure you don't want to go sit inside, Cass? You look like a drowned rat." At her hurt expression, he quickly added, "A very pretty drowned rat, but a drowned rat nonetheless."

"Paul, what's this called again?"

"A tire iron."

"Can it hurt Collin?"

"Not if you hit him with it. It would if I hit him with it," Paul chuckled. "I'm kind of impressed, Cass. You suck at this, but I'm impressed you even managed this far. A car like this has locking lug nuts, and they're a bitch if you don't know what you're looking for."

"Roman, the bouncer at the See Sound Lounge, fixes up cars and bikes in his free time," Cassie muttered, threading on the lug nuts and ignoring the sucking comment. "He taught me how to do this a couple months ago when I was in his garage and bugging him too much. I sort of paid attention, enough to know that I needed a car jack today. By the way, thanks for thinking I'm an idiot, guys."

"Aww, Cass is cute when she's all wet and forced to do physical labor," Collin teased, standing up and leaning over her enough that he was sheltering her from some of the downpour. Cassie grinned up at Collin and winked naughtily.

"Baby, you haven't even seen wet and forced to do-" The rest of her comment was cut off by Paul's hand over her mouth and his deep voice rumbling sexily in her ear.

"Don't give him any ideas, Cass," Paul told her firmly. "He's bad enough already, and every day I have to see what these guys fantasize about in their heads. Collin thinks about you enough as it is." He withdrew his hand and nipped her lightly on the back on the neck, making Cassie shiver and drop her last lug nut in the puddle. She could feel Paul smirking behind her.

"Collin thinks about me, huh?" Cassie teased the younger man, but he didn't acknowledge it because Collin's attention was elsewhere. He was staring up the road with a frown marring his handsome face, an action that immediately caught Paul's notice.

"Paul," Collin said softly, and Paul stood up. "I can't quite tell…" Cassie continued working between them, pleased with her success although she would probably have to get one of the guys to tighten these a little better before she drove this thing anywhere.

"Cassie, get in the car," Paul said quietly and she nodded.

"Yeah, just a second, I'm almost done-"

"_Get in the car_."

Her head snapped up at the barked order, but what surprised her the most was that it came from Collin instead of Paul. Paul was walking away from them, and after a couple steps, he disappeared in the rain. Collin was tensed, standing between her and Paul, and his arms were vibrating slightly. Cassie wasn't stupid. She got her ass in the car. Collin hit the automatic lock on the door and then slammed it shut, locking her in. The rain was beating so heavily on the car roof that Cassie couldn't hear anything, and her heart began pounding faster when Collin's figure moved away from the driver's side door and disappeared into the rain.

And then there was nothing. Nothing to hear or see but the drumming on the roof and the rivulets of water streaking down the tinted glass. Cassie sat shivering in the driver's seat, trying to peer into the storm for some clue of what was going on. She thought she caught some movement through the passenger side window but she wasn't sure. Cassie leaned forward towards the windshield, her eyes scanning the darkened road in front of her, and she hit the windshield wipers. They helped only a little. Another movement, this time right in front of the car, and her pulse began racing. Something was wrong.

Cassie had left the keys in the ignition and she punched her boots down on the clutch and the brake, turning on the car and flipped the lights on. A man was right in front of her car, leaning forward and staring _right through the window_. His eyes were inhuman, his features too beautiful, and the tips of his fangs…

_Oh god. It was a __**vampire**_.

With a scream, Cassie did the first thing she could think of. She shoved the gas pedal to the floor and gunned the car, gravel flying as the Corvette leapt forward, slamming into the vampire. She had just a moment to see his expression turn to one of shock right before she hit him and sent him flying back into the rain. Then, because the _vampire_ was standing back up, Cassie hit the gas and slammed the car into him again, knocking the off balance creature onto his ass and running him over. Cassie kept screaming as she skidded to a stop. She could try to run for it, but somewhere out there Paul and Collin were getting attacked and what if this one tried to kill them too? Cassie realized the vampire was on his knees, and with another scream, she shifted into reverse and floored the car again, hearing the heavy thud of granite hard vampire hitting the undercarriage of her vehicle as she ran completely him over a second time. Horrified, Cassie saw a flash of bronze colored hair by the hood of her car…the vampire was getting up _again_!

"Oh my god, just _die_!" Cassie shrieked at the undead terror in front of her, and she threw the shifter into first, punching the gas. But this time she didn't go anywhere because this time the person in front of her car was Collin. He had picked up the front end of her car and was holding it up in the air to stop it from moving. Cassie's car was a two wheel drive vehicle, so the tires simply spun as she kept her foot on the gas, still screaming bloody murder up until the point that someone jerked her locked car door off and pulled her out. She kicked and screamed and bit and fought whatever it was that was trying to take her off in the woods and eat her up, until she realized what it was that her attacker was crooning in her ear.

"Cassie, Cass honey, you're okay, baby, you're okay, I've got you…" It was Paul, and he had picked her up, his strong arms easily holding her aloft. Cassie wrapped her legs around his waist and buried her face in his shoulder. _Paul_. Paul would fix it.

"Paul, there's a vampire!" Cassie shrieked, waving her arm back towards her car and informing him of the dreadful situation. "A _vampire_!"

"I know, Cass," he murmured soothingly to her. "Calm down, you're okay."

"There's a _VAMPIRE_!" He didn't seem to understand his role in all this, so Cassie helped him out by waving her arms more forcefully back at her car. "Go kill it, Paul! Go _kill_ it!" Someone was laughing hysterically, and it sounded very much like Collin. Cassie didn't know why he was laughing, when there was a vampire about to eat them all.

"Cass, honey, I can't kill this vampire. He's our friend," Paul explained patiently, although that didn't seem like a very good reason to let themselves get eaten, no it didn't, not to Cassie.

"Our friend?" she asked suspiciously, her face still buried in his bare shoulder. If she was going to get eaten, she didn't want to see it happen.

"Yes. Our _friend_. I can't kill him."

"You can't kill him?" Cassie was actually a little disappointed there. She had so nicely ruined her car in running the vampire over…couldn't Paul at least kill it for her? She'd already done the hard part.

"No, I can't. But he won't kill you, either, so you're okay," Paul promised her, but there was something in his voice that was not comforting. It sounded suspiciously of laughter. When she pulled her face out of his shoulder, she realized that Paul in fact was laughing at her. He was laughing so hard that he actually had tears running down his face. Cassie drew herself up, tried her best to appear the opposite of a drowned rat, and then looked over at the scene of the near fatal eating. Collin had killed her car's engine although the lights were still on, and he was leaning against the ruined hood of the vehicle, howling with laughter. Next to him were an annoyed looking bronze haired man, a vampire, and a brown haired man, another vampire. The brown haired man was laughing even harder than Collin was.

"Okay, what am I missing here?" Cassie hissed as she unwrapped her legs from around Paul's waist and he gently set her back down on her feet.

"We have a treaty with the Cullen coven," Paul informed her as he grinned, throwing an arm proudly over her shoulders and leading her back towards the others. "And you, Cass, just ran over Edward Cullen. Three times."

"And it was beautiful," Collin added between chortles. "Fuck, dude, that was the most fucking awesome thing I've ever seen. I think I love you, Cass."

"You okay Edward?" Paul asked the vampire sweetly, and Cassie had the feeling that he was not doing it to be thoughtful. "Cassie didn't hurt you, did she?" The wicked grin on his face gave Paul away. Edward Cullen had the grace to simply nod his head, but he did give Cassie an annoyed look.

"Your imprint has good reflexes," Edward muttered, which sent all the men into another round of hysterics. Cassie was trying to decide if she should be embarrassed or just thankful that she didn't get eaten. Whatever happened, Paul's arm was staying right where it was, damn it. Even friend vampires were still vampires.

"Cass, why exactly did you attack Edward with your car?" Collin asked, smirking at the vampires. "We had everything under control."

"He was staring at me! With his scary eyes and his creepy skin and his fangs!"

At the word fangs all laughing immediately ceased. Paul let out a deep snarl and Cassie found herself pushed behind his back. That was fine. Kill it, Paul. Kill the vampire. Killing was good.

"You showed your fangs to my imprint, leech?" Paul asked in a dangerously soft voice, and Edward looked even more annoyed.

"Not deliberately, dog," the vampire replied in the most alluring voice Cassie had ever heard. It was a voice that was supposed to make you want to get closer, to listen a little more. But Cassie was an imprint and her entire being was genetically designed to be the mate of a shape shifting wolf, and Cassie _hated_ that voice the instant Edward first spoke. "She thinks in Russian, a most aggravating language to translate, and it was distracting me as we were speaking. If you believe I am obtuse enough to threaten an imprint with no one but Emmett to have my back, you are mistaken."

Paul just growled lower in his chest, an angry rumbling noise and Collin was slowly shifting to try and position himself closer to Paul and Cassie. The other vampire, Emmett, looked tense too, but he had an eager smile on his face. He would welcome a fight. Realizing that this was about to get ugly, Cassie did the equivalent of tugging on Paul's nonexistent sleeve. She grabbed his back pocket and tugged on his butt.

"Paul. Psst, Paul. _Paul_."

Her wolf managed to break his growl long enough to demand, "What, Cass?"

"Am I supposed to apologize? Because in normal situations, if I ran over one of your friends, I would need to apologize. Especially if I did it on purpose. Three times. Or was it two? Mr. Cullen, are we considering the first bump as you getting run over?" Cassie tried to stick her head around Paul, but he sidestepped, keeping everything of her out of the vampire's view.

"Paul, I realize you don't want me speaking with your imprint and it's rude to ignore your wishes, but she's addressing me specifically and it's equally rude to ignore her," Edward suddenly said, as if he had read Paul's mind. What had he said before? Cassie's thoughts were in Russian and that annoyed him? Maybe he was a psychic vampire. That was kind of cool. Could he read tarot cards too? Cassie didn't believe in tarot cards but then again until recently she hadn't believed in werewolves or vampires either, so it wasn't entirely unreasonable for there to be a tarot card reading vampire. Maybe she should ask him?

"No, I cannot read tarot cards, Miss Fedorova," Edward sighed after a moment of silence. He rubbed his head in annoyance. "Your imprint has an astounding mind, Paul. You would be interested to know that for every single solitary thought you have, she has fourteen simultaneous ones. It is quite staggering to my senses, enough so to enable her to run me over with her car. If she was thinking in English, French, Italian, or Spanish I would be fine, but unfortunately I can only translate four of her thoughts in Russian at a time. Hopefully you can understand if I take my leave, because your imprint is breaking my brain."

"Paul's imprint's mind is the anti-Bella?" Emmett snickered. "That's beautiful. Rose'll want to meet her."

"Cass is our little attack imprint," Collin grinned at Emmett, seeming much more relaxed now that Paul had finally stopped growling. "Beware, Cullens, we just might sic her on you," he added.

"I'm actually very nice," Cassie muttered from behind Paul's back, although he again sidestepped when she tried to see the vampires. Now that they weren't eating her, they didn't seem quite as terrifying. Or maybe just having a huge Paul situated in between her and the vampires made them seem not quite as terrifying. Although it would probably be better if the vampires thought she was dangerous like Collin said, so she tried to think of as many things as she could while attempting her best growl. "I mean, no, be careful of me, vampires. _Grrowl_."

Even Paul took his attention off the vampires and looked over his shoulder at her. "Cass?" he smirked. "Did you just try and growl?"

"You can teach me better when the _vampires_ are gone," Cassie hissed at Paul. "Don't ruin this, I don't want them to try and come eat me when you're not around!"

"I wouldn't have eaten you anyways," Edward said, and Cassie could hear the smile playing about his mouth. "You're much too scrawny to be anything more than a midday snack. We'll contact your Pack as soon as we hear anything from Carlisle, dog. Please try to keep your female from running anyone else over anytime soon."

"Says the leech that let it happen," Paul chuckled and then the vampires were gone. The next thing Cassie knew she was swept up in the hugest hug, with Collin spinning her about in circles. Cassie eeped in surprise, and then was thankfully rescued by Paul's arms before she could throw up on the young wolf.

"Aww Paul, can we keep her?" Collin asked, bouncing on his heels as he grinned down at Cassie. "She so cute, I can't stand it. What's with the new girls trying to take on vamps?"

Paul ignored Collin and firmly pushed Cassie back to her car, which now looked like she had hit a deer or several with it. Both men grimaced at the damage.

"Shi…shoot, Cass. Your car is trashed," Paul muttered, getting her to sit inside the passenger seat, because the driver's side door had somehow been taken off. _Paul_. The driver's side was soaked from the rain, and now that the adrenaline was starting to run from Cassie's body, she began shivering. Paul gave her a piercing look then cursed under his breath, ducking in the driver's side and pulling a latch beneath the steering wheel. "Collin, try and pop the hood if you can. I want to see if this thing's safe to turn on. She's gonna get sick if she doesn't warm up soon."

"Sorry baby," Collin cooed to the car, patting its hood gently as he tried to coax it to open without damaging the hood even more. "Momma's crazy, but papa wolf's got her under control now. That's it, open up."

"Make love to the car later, Collin," Paul grunted, ignoring the mud as he scooted on his back underneath the car. This time he cursed louder, possibly assuming Cassie couldn't hear because he'd been much better about not using profanity when speaking to her. "Damn, that leech nearly tore the whole undercarriage out. He ripped the muffler and skid plate completely off, and fucked up the oil pan. Fucker's leaking."

"Not much better up here, bro," Collin muttered. "Emb and Quil would know better than me, but it looks like the radiator got smashed back into the fan. Can you still start this thing like that?"

Paul wiggled himself out from under the car and stood up, going over and peering at the engine block.

"Yeah," he muttered under his breath, pointing at the damage to show Collin what to look for. "See that? The fan blades got crushed into the radiator. You have to break them out first but then you can start the car. We can't turn on the air conditioner, but we can get the heat on."

"If it's dripping oil, can it drive?" Collin wondered out loud, and Paul nodded, explaining patiently.

"Yes, but we have to keep an eye on it, because this is one expensive engine to have to replace if it runs too low. Cass, when's the last time you added oil in this?" Paul called over, and she shook her head.

"I don't. Jonathan always does that stuff because I let him drive it. I'd call him but my phone's on the fritz from the storm."

They checked it, and after Paul had shown Collin how to break the fan blades off, they started the car and turned on the heater. At this point Cassie was chilled through and through, and she pressed her forehead to the air vent gratefully. Concentrating on warming up, she only barely heard their conversation outside.

"…but I'm not sure it'll make it either way," Paul was saying, and he was glancing through the windshield at her.

"She won't care man," Collin was reassuring Paul, and whatever he said next seemed to make up Paul's mind. Cassie's wolf stuck his head and shoulders through the open space that used to be her door.

"Your car's pretty trashed, Cassie, but it could be worse," he told her bluntly. "La Push is closer than Seattle, but either way we're pushing this thing if we run too low on oil. If we go home, you can stay with me until your car's fixed. Or we can take you home now. It's up to you."

"I'm not asking you to push my car to Seattle, Paul," Cassie told him through chattering lips and he nodded. She glanced outside and added, "If we wait until the storm lifts, I can call a tow truck."

"Naw, we're cool," Collin piped up from behind Paul's back. "Plus this way you and Paul can have some _alone_ time…"

Paul sighed in annoyance, but then he caught Cassie's eye and the corners of his lips twitched up. "You did good, by the way. A car can't do a thing to hurt a leech, but you made enough of a fuss to make killing you harder. You did real good, Cass."

She smiled at him in appreciation and then curled up in a ball as close to the heaters as she could get. Paul and Collin gathered what parts that could fit in the trunk, and apparently Collin drew the short straw, because he got to trot alongside the damaged car carrying the door as Paul drove it back to La Push. The normal hour drive took twice as long from them going slow in case there was more damage than they had seen and from stopped constantly to check the oil. Paul spent the time silently fretting over the car and shooting her worried looks.

"Paul, I'm wet, I'm not dying," Cassie told him after she got tired of watching him give himself whiplash, having to raise her voice slightly because the now muffler-less sports car was horribly loud.

"You're freezing, Cass," he muttered, and she laughed. Paul glared at her and she couldn't help but shake her head in amusement.

"Paul, I've lived over half my life in Moscow. Give me a break. I'm soaking wet and I'm chilled, which makes me kind of cold, but this is _not_ freezing." Cassie sighed and then buried her head against the seat. "I am tired, though. This has been a trying day. My mother called me…yikes."

"Cassie, you got scared enough tonight that when I pulled you from the car, you were in hysterics," Paul said seriously. "You're probably tired from _that_, not from a twenty minute phone conversation with your mother."

"You haven't met my mother," Cassie disagreed amiably, ignoring Paul's attempt to get her to talk about it. "Twenty minutes with her is the mental equivalent of putting your head in a blender. I would suggest trying to sic her on the vampires instead of me."

Paul sighed and didn't press the issue, but he did take her hand and squeezed it gently. They rode in silence, and Cassie focused on the way Paul's hand completely engulfed her own. After awhile he let go and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. He was warm, hot even, and being next to him was a comforting thing. The rain managed to get even worse by the time that they passed the sign welcoming them into La Push, not that Cassie would have seen it if Paul hadn't told her it was there. She was glad that the town had all gone into hiding to avoid the storm because they certainly made a racket coming through in her muffler-less car.

In a different situation, she might have been worried about being driven into the middle of the woods to a tiny log home that barely constituted more than a shack. But to be honest, Cassie had been expecting this. She wasn't dense. She knew that the reservations that weren't funded by casinos tended to be rougher, and she had been pretty sure that Paul didn't own a car at all. It did make her sad that the closer they got to his home, the more his face grew stony, and when they finally pulled up the dirt and grass lane and parked in front of the cabin, Paul's expression was nearly belligerent. Cassie's car door was already leaning against the side of the cabin, next to a large plastic trash can and what Cassie was guessing was a box for a generator. She didn't see any electric lines out here, so it probably was. Collin must have been serious about his alone time comment because he was nowhere to be seen.

"Come on, you're soaked," Paul grunted, leading her towards the front door. She inspected the place with interest as she followed him up the single step onto the small porch, grateful for the relief from the rain. There were two large windows on either side of the front door that looked clean, and someone she was pretty sure wasn't Paul had planted some flowers in the window boxes. The porch was swept and free of anything but a rocking chair and when she looked above them, she couldn't see a single cobweb in the open beam rafters. Despite the dim light coming from the porch, it was obvious the door had a fresh coat of paint.

Paul held the door open for her and deliberately kept his eyes off her face. Cassie stepped inside and after Paul had hit a light switch beside her, she peered around curiously. It was tiny, definitely, but so were some of the trendiest lofts she had been in while in Europe and New York. The house was a single room, open beam like the porch, with a kitchen set off to the left and Paul's bed in the far right corner. The only furniture in the place besides the bed were a beautiful pine dresser and a chest at the foot of the bed, and the only amenities that she could see were a small television on the dresser and a coffee pot next to the refrigerator. The two doors off to the side led to what she assumed were the bathroom and a single closet.

What Cassie noticed the most was that Paul's home was impeccably clean, and even though he didn't have much, what he had was obviously well cared for. The wooden floors shone as if they'd been waxed recently, the comforter was tucked neatly into the bed, and every picture hanging on the wall was straight and recently dusted.

Cassie wondered what it might feel like to be cared for by this man as much as he cared for his home.

Paul was dirty and barefoot, but he wiped his feet off with a towel next to the door and headed to the closet. He pulled out a two towels and a pair of jeans, handing her a towel before disappearing into the bathroom. When he came out he was mud free, and he was wearing torn but clean jeans and a resigned expression. "You can sit on the bed if you want," he muttered, "I can get you some warm clothes to change into."

"I'm muddy, I'll get the bed dirty," Cassie said worriedly, and Paul flinched. Damn. He thought she didn't want to touch his stuff. "But if you insist, Paul," she added, stepping across the floor. It was obvious he was waiting for her to comment, so she did. "So this is home?"

Paul gave her an unreadable look, but then he exhaled. "Yeah, Cass. This is home. This is all there is."

He said it as if he expected her to throw a fit or something, and Cassie wondered if Paul really thought that lowly of her. He had no idea who she was, not if he thought that. Heck, in a couple of years, if not less, she'd probably be lucky to have as much as he did right now. Not that that was something she wanted to talk to him about.

Cassie looked around, and then she frowned. She turned towards Paul, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Paul," she said honestly. "But this isn't going to work."

Paul looked like she had sucker punched him, but then she smiled at him and Cassie was not teasing in the slightest when she added, "When we get married I have absolutely no idea where you're putting your clothes. Because I claim that closet over there as mine. And that dresser is mine too."

She grinned at his dumbfounded expression and plopped down on the edge of the bed, stripping off her wet and ruined sweater as if he wasn't staring right at her. Her left boot was gone by the time Paul drew himself up, his face flat and emotionless.

"That's not something to joke about, Cassie," Paul said stiffly, and she nodded.

"I realize that," Cassie agreed, raising her eyes to his in challenge. "You don't trust me at all, do you Paul?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Trust. You don't trust me at all," she repeated, grimacing in pain when she tried to work off her other boot. "You thought I'd walk in here and say, what? You're broke and I'm out? Give me a little credit, Paul. At least what you have means something. At least you can be proud of it. It's obvious that everything in here means a lot to you, and I don't know why you'd want to be around me if you thought I wouldn't appreciate that. I'm your imprint, aren't I? Of course what matters to you is going to matter to me. The last thing I would do is ridicule you for having the capability of providing for yourself."

Paul blinked.

The boot was refusing to cooperate and Cassie hissed in pain, changing the subject. "God, my legs hurt. Hey listen, Paul. This is pretty embarrassing, but if I want to walk tomorrow, I'm gonna have to take some stuff tonight, and it'll knock me out. I'm sorry, I thought I could last longer, but today didn't quite go as I had planned. If you don't want to deal with that, I'm sure I can find someone to take me back to Seattle."

Paul didn't say anything for a moment, and then he closed his eyes. "You know," he said softly. "Just when I decide that you could never be my type, Cass, you say this shit…"

Cassie didn't know what to say to that, so she continued to struggle with her boot until Paul suddenly strode across the room and dropped down in front of her. He worked her boot loose gently, even though it still hurt, and Cassie sighed gratefully when it came free. Then Paul wrapped his arm around her and he lifted them both to their feet simultaneously. He shifted closer in a predatory fashion that made her pulse pick up, and as if he could smell her sudden arousal, Paul's nostrils flared and he groaned, moving in even closer. Cassie's breath caught in her throat at the territorial heat in his eyes, and she stayed very still as Paul's large hands spanned her ribcage, right beneath her breasts. His hands slid slowly down her torso, his fingers touching at the smallest point of her waist before slowly moving down to the flare of her hips.

"I don't know what to fucking _do_ with you," Paul growled softly, his voice deepening enough to send a series of shivers down her spine. Cassie was nearly trembling by the time his fingers hooked into the waist of her pants. He very deliberately unbuttoned them and knelt in front of her, his nose buried against her belly as he stripped her muddy pants off. His eyes scraped over her from her breasts to her knees, and his mouth followed suit.

Cassie was very comfortable in her body, was very comfortable in less than the bra and thong she was standing in now, but in front of Paul she felt disturbingly raw. That in just being who he was, in just being Paul, he could look at her and tell she was completely full of shit. He could see right through her. No wonder Paul just wanted to be friends. Paul's hands against her flesh, stroking up and down from her shoulders to the backs of her thighs felt wonderful, but they also felt wrong. Being with him like this was wrong, because Cassie knew that deep down Paul didn't want it. And despite whatever unknown thing she had done to trigger this reaction from him now, Cassie was pretty sure that tomorrow he'd regret it.

Paul's tongue circled her navel as he moved lower, inhaling her scent deeply. Cassie's hand on his head, and her whispered "No, Paul," might have been one of the hardest things she had ever done. The huge man went still and then lifted those beautiful caramel colored eyes to her. Cassie prayed that her moment of clarity was enough to regain his, because he had her. Three weeks was all it took, and Paul had her completely. It wasn't fair, because Cassie knew that Paul the man didn't want her at all.

He groaned, a deep guttural sound, and then Paul stood up. His hands stayed locked around her hips and he lifted her up like she weighed nothing, because to him she didn't. Cassie's legs hurt, but they wrapped around his waist instinctively as Paul lowered her on his bed, his body held above hers. One arm held him propped up off of her, but his other continued to stroke paths up and down her body.

"You said no," Paul rumbled against her neck, where he was nuzzling her jaw so that her head fell back, baring her throat to him. He seemed to like that, because his mouth covered every inch of her throat before he pulled away. "Why, Cass? I can smell how much you want me." His teeth grazed her pulse point, her collarbone, the fabric of her bra, and when his hand ran down the length of her leg and hooked it over his hip, Cassie let out a soft moan.

"I'm not…You don't really want…" Cassie mumbled, trying to concentrate. The feel of him against her was intoxicating, and Cassie was pretty sure sliding her own hands over his body would be enough to convince Paul to finish what he'd started.

But she didn't want to have to convince him. She wanted him to finish it because he _wanted_ to. That's why she had said no, because she didn't want to see that look on his face in the morning. Cassie didn't know Paul all that well, but she knew that if he looked at her in regret or disgust, it would hurt her. A lot.

"Paul, no," she managed to get out again, but unfortunately it came out as a barely audible purr, followed by a gasp as he easily flipped her over onto her stomach. His arm slid beneath her torso, lifting her up off the bedding enough that she was pressed along his front, his teeth nipping the nape of her neck. Cassie moaned louder this time and gripped the bedding beneath her, deciding that she wasn't going to be fighting this much longer. She wanted him. The hardness of his body pressed against hers said that he wanted her too.

"Why no, Cass?" He asked again, licking his way down her spine, and shifting her onto her knees to accommodate his attentions. Cassie trembled beneath his hands, slowly coming undone. "Why now? I can tell you want…fuck, you smell so fucking good."

Apparently he was coming undone too. Hating herself for doing this, Cassie grabbed the back of Paul's neck and twisted around so that she was staring into his smoldering eyes. God, he was beautiful.

"You need to stop, Paul," Cassie said very firmly, holding his gaze. "Because I might be good to go, but we both know you don't really want to sleep with a whore."

Paul froze as if shocked, and then suddenly his arms tightened like iron around her and he snarled furiously against her neck. It was a terrible noise that scared her and made her flinch away, but not before his teeth sank into the nape of her neck again, this time deep enough that he was close to drawing blood.

"Don't you say that again, Cassie," Paul growled harshly against her skin when he pulled away. "Don't you _dare_." Then he bit her again as if she hadn't gotten the point the first time.

"Oww," she whimpered in pain, but Paul kept his teeth in her neck until Cassie went passive beneath him. "I won't, I _won't_. I promise, Paul," Cassie gasped, and immediately his teeth were off her neck and were replaced by his lips and his tongue. He sucked lightly at the bite, sliding his tongue over it to soothe away the worst of the sting.

"Don't think for one second that I'm going to let you say that shit about yourself," Paul growled, still sounding angry. "You're mine, Cassie. _My_ imprint. No one says that shit about you and gets away with it, not even you."

"You bit me," Cassie couldn't believe it, and Paul flipped her over, threading his fingers into her hair and tipping her head back. He sucked hard at the base of her throat before leaning forward and locking eyes with her.

"Damn straight, I bit you," he growled even softer now, which was almost scarier. "And you deserved it, Cass. And the next time I hear you say that, I'll bite every fucking inch of you until you never say it again," he promised darkly, his voice iron hard. "There's a lot of stuff about you that I don't like, but that kind of shit I will absolutely not tolerate. When you're in my house, in my bed, in my arms, and you will not shred yourself. I don't like it and I won't have it."

"Stop cursing at me, Paul," Cassie said in an equally hard voice, even though she knew there wasn't a damn thing she could do to stop him. "I don't like it either. And for the record, playful biting is fine, but the next time you bite me because you're angry, I'm cutting your balls off. That _hurt_, you jerk."

He stared down at her for a moment, but then seemed to come back to himself, the anger fading. Paul kept his hold of her hair, but his arms softened and he rested his nose against her collarbone. "Sorry, Cass," he mumbled apologetically, and he sounded like he meant it. Then he rolled her over so that her back was pressed to his chest, and he kissed the bite mark again, over and over. The sting had softened to a dull ache, and his tongue laved the bruise with each kiss.

"I don't play the pain game, Paul," Cassie told him simply. "I get it that some people need that to get off, but if that's your thing, you'll have to find someone else to play with. I'm not sure how this whole imprint thing works but-"

"Please stop talking, Cass," Paul begged her, cutting her off and still trying to love away what he'd done to her neck. "Please. I'm confused enough right now as it is. No, I don't like pain and I don't need that to get off. But I don't know what I need anymore, and I never should have brought you here. I'm a fu…I'm an idiot. Just let me…just let me try and fix this without making it more complicated. _Please_."

He sounded upset, and turning into his body and wrapping her arms around him was instinctual. Paul groaned low in his throat and buried his face against her shoulder, holding onto her tightly. She hoped he watched his strength, because after today with the car, Cassie finally realized just how easy it would be for Paul to break her. But then again, by the way he was holding onto her, Cassie wondered if it would be just as easy for her to break him. Cassie tilted her head and wiggled around until Paul raised his own head. Then she gave him a tiny shy smile and kissed him lightly. Paul held still, then exhaled heavily and rolled onto his back, dragging her up his torso. He kept his hands safely threaded into her hair as he kissed her, although Cassie wished privately that this could be more than that.

After awhile the kisses simmered down into Paul just holding her, one large hand cradling the back of her head as his thumb rubbed light circles over the nape of her neck. Cassie let him for awhile, and then she sighed, deciding that it was one thing to give him silence and another to let him brood.

"Paul," Cassie asked him quietly. "What happened? Not that I mind being jumped, but that's not your style. And it can't be just because I took my shirt off. You're not a teenage boy and you have better self control than almost any man I've ever met."

"My self control's not nearly as good as you think," Paul rumbled, tilting her head to the side and sitting up enough that he could see the back of her neck. He frowned and dropped his head back to the bedding. "Remember when I told you the wolf inside me is more active when you're around? Well it's been pissed at me ever since you turned on the car and started screaming. You were scared and there were leeches close, and that made it very unhappy. And I've been doing this long enough to know better than to hole up with you when the wolf's upset. I should have kept Collin here or just gone to Seth's, but I thought I had better control of myself."

Paul ran a hand over his face and groaned. "Stupid, I get so damn stupid when you're around, Cass. And then the way you reacted to this place and then you taking your clothes off…it was too much. When I wavered, wanting you, the wolf pushed hard because it wanted you too. And I was already mad at myself because it was so hard to slow down, even when you told me to stop, and then what you said to finally stop me…You can't say that to me, Cass. I won't tolerate insults to you, not even from you. You matter too much to the wolf, and you're starting to matter to me too, and you just can't do that. Remember what I said about their being conditions about us, if you wanted to be together?"

Cassie nodded, and Paul grimaced. "It's dangerous because the wolf doesn't like to share, especially not you. According to it, you belong to us absolutely. Even with how good your arousal smelled," he told her in a hard voice, "It didn't cover up whoever it was you were with two nights ago. The wolf wanted that scent gone, and when you're mostly naked in my arms, I want that scent gone too. It made the wolf crazy, wanting to get at you. But I won't become Embry for you, Cass. I'm not fighting myself every waking moment just to be with you. I like you a lot, Cass, you must have figured that out by now, but I have a Pack to consider and it's just not worth it."

Apparently _she_ wasn't worth it. That was always nice to hear. There wasn't much she could say to that, although it occurred to Cassie that it was really freaking unfair. Paul didn't want her, not really, but her being with someone else drove him nuts. She couldn't win with this guy.

"So there's no way to keep you happy," Cassie decided sadly as she closed her eyes. "That sucks."

"Why do you want to keep me happy, Cass?" Paul asked her seriously, his caramel eyes on her. "Why does that matter to you?"

"Because everyday there's a whole big world out there just waiting to crush us all," Cassie told him softly. "A world that deliberately gives us a bad hand and laughs when we're forced to fold. I want to make that change, Paul, for every person that I can. I've been called a people pleaser like it's a bad thing, but how is it bad? I want to be happy, and I want everyone else to be happy too, and trying to accomplish that doesn't make me weak. It's a whole hell of a lot easier to sit back and be cynical than it is to smile and keep trying. You matter. We all matter. What we all want matters, and maybe when the Everythingist movement takes hold, someone other than myself will realize that I matter too."

"Life according to Cassie," Paul smiled, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I still think you're dangerously addicted to optimism."

"Yeah, pretty much," she agreed, but then her face scrunched up in pain. "Hey Paul? I need the medicine in my purse soon. The soreness in my legs is getting bad and if I let it go on too long, I'll be in too much pain to do anything tomorrow."

Paul glanced down at her legs, and then inhaled deeply. He inhaled again, and then said a few choice words in Quileute that Cassie was pretty sure she wouldn't have wanted to hear. "Sorry, Cass, you do smell like you hurt. I can't believe I missed it, even after Seth pointing it out the other day. Man, I've got to start working on my nose."

Apparently that was all it took to get Paul to extract himself from being wrapped around her. He forced himself up off the bed and adjusted his jeans discreetly as he went outside and grabbed her purse out of the car. He came back in, freshly covered in rainwater, and handed it to Cassie. Paul went to get her a glass of water as she dug through her things and pulled out a little white bottle. It held several different kinds of pills, and she picked two of the smaller ones, swallowing them dry. She drank the water Paul gave her anyways.

"Thanks, Paul," she said with a sigh. "Be warned, when those hit I'll be out for a good eight or ten hours, so don't get worried if I'm hard to wake up. I'll be better in the morning. Hopefully good as new."

"Do you want a dry shirt or shorts or something?" he rumbled, sitting next to her and resting a hand on her leg. Cassie knew Paul could feel her shift uncomfortably when he did, although her face betrayed nothing. He put his arm around her waist instead.

"It's kind of up to you," Cassie shrugged in answer. "I've got bathing suits that cover less than what I'm wearing now, but if it makes you uncomfortable, I'll steal a shirt. Your shorts would just fall right off, but thanks anyway."

Cassie expected Paul to shove her into clothes immediately to avoid temptation, but he surprised her by heading to the bathroom and coming back in a pair of gym shorts, no shirt for either of them. The only television in the room was on top of Paul's dresser and he handed her the remote before lying back down on the bed, his heavy arm wrapping around her waist and his large body stretched out alongside her own.

"Score, imprint gets the remote," Cassie grinned, cuddling back into his warmth and ignoring the dull pain running up and down her legs from toe to hip. "Is this because you're a huge meanie and bit me?" she teased and Paul groaned against her hair.

"I'll never live that down, huh?" he sighed, wrapping around her more completely.

"Nope," she chirped as she scrolled through the channels. So maybe she wasn't worth it. At least she could enjoy this time she got to spend with Paul, there were a lot worse ways to spend a night. "Ohh. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is on. You know, my current lifestyle brings a whole new meaning to this show. And to think I used to be an Angel fan."

"Cass…"

"But at least Angel didn't sparkle. That's so stupid, the whole sparkling thing. You'd think that real vampires would be more bad ass instead of less."

"Cassie…"

"I bet Angel wouldn't have let me hit him with my car. Hey, maybe if Angel had been a pansy sparkly vampire then Buffy wouldn't still have been so hung up on her vampire obsession, and she would have treated Riley better. Now he was yummy. Although I guess the vampire obsession makes sense, after all who wouldn't be obsessed with the very thing that makes them special. Paul, have you ever found yourself uncommonly drawn to a vampire girl-"

"_Cassie._"

"Hmm?" She looked over her shoulder at him, and he took her face in his palm, kissing her gently and effectively cutting off her words.

"I know you're just doing that on purpose," he murmured as he nibbled on her bottom lip. "Rambling so I'll kiss you to shut you up. I figured it out last week after the thirty minute long tirade against grape Snapple."

"I'm an evil mastermind, Paul."

"I know, Cass. Now shut up or I'll bite you again."

"Sadist," Cassie teased. "Is it too late to switch wolves—_oww_! I'll shut up, I'll shut up!" His rumbling laughter in her ear and his warm mouth on her neck were almost worth the pain and trouble of making him bite her again. At least he wasn't brooding anymore.

See? Maybe she could make him happy.

* * *

It took about an hour, but it was obvious when the painkillers kicked in. Cassie went from gritting her teeth in pain and trying to ignore it by joking with him throughout the television show, to his imprint completely checking out. If Paul hadn't known it was coming, it would have worried him, but when Cassie slumped against his side, he just sighed and pulled her closer. He hated that she hurt so often. He hated that he had made her hurt more tonight, even if at the time it had seemed like the right thing to do.

So many mistakes.

Paul was making so many mistakes with her, he knew that. He didn't know why fate would give him an imprint, he had absolutely no idea what to do with one, but he liked her. And despite his mistakes, but she was still here. She was still in his arms, safe and sound and tucked away from the rest of the world. She smelled of mate and rain and others and him. Maybe one day she would only smell of him. That could be nice. Smiling slightly at the thought, Paul closed his eyes and he slept, curled protectively around the only girl that he had ever brought into his home and his bed.

The wolf stayed awake in the far recesses of Paul's mind, lonely and worried that his fool of a human was losing their mate for both of them.


	8. Chapter 7

A/N It's three in the morning, so don't kill me if there's typos. _Jacobleah, hilja, Miss Bear, Buffyk0604, EnglishVoice, MadToTheBone1, LightIsPrecious, mcc3654, PinkAzn, twiceasbold, Manna1, pinkshirt, ally leigh, StealthLiberal, Idybnny, _and_ LucyPenny _all rock for their reviews last chapter. :) Laters! (drops)

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Seven

She hadn't slept in her own bed that night.

It was an oddity for her, the man thought as he slowly wandered about the empty hotel suite, running a finger along the top of the dining table. Ksanochka had made a habit of surrounding herself with people, of never being alone for long, but she was stupidly predictable. She would always return to the same spot, to the familiar, even though she should have left a long time ago. The girl had long ago decided that running was pointless, so she kept herself holed up with her back to the wall, kept herself larger than life and impossible to ignore. When there were enough eyes on you, someone always knew where you were, what you were doing. A paper trail a mile wide, a list of friends that never ended, and a target that was never never alone. Stupidly predictable but smart as hell.

Maybe she had cut town, just to see if it worked.

A soft knock followed by the front door sliding open made him spin around, his hand gripping the piece tucked discreetly into the back of his jeans. A dark haired girl with an arm full of towels froze when she saw the room wasn't empty and the maid gave him a shy smile.

"I'm sorry, sir. Should I come back later?" the timid woman asked. "I thought the lady was out at the moment."

The man looked at her carefully, evaluating her movements and watching her cringe slightly under his stare. He made her nervous. He made a lot of people nervous. This girl however didn't need to be, as long as she left. Immediately.

"She is," he said in a softly accented voice, relaxing his shoulders but not his hold on his gun. "But please come back later." The maid nodded, being used to Ksanochka having this place filled to the brim, and politely shut the door. It wasn't until the door clicked and locked that he let his arms fall to the sides. No, she hadn't come home last night, but his instincts told him that she hadn't left town. It wasn't her style. Ksanochka would come home eventually, and when she did, she had some explaining to do.

Leaning his head to the side so that the muscles in his neck loosened, the man sat down on the dining room table and waited patiently. He kept the semi-automatic in his hands just in case.

* * *

Something was different.

Cassie always made a point to wake up in her own bed, in her comfort zone, on her own turf and on her own terms. She was used to waking in total darkness, therefore she was very disoriented when sunlight curled across her face, making her blink and instinctively roll away from it. The movement left her forehead pressed against a broad muscled chest, and for a moment Cassie wasn't exactly sure where she was or who she was with. She was still groggy from the medication last night, a state that always left her feeling oddly vulnerable, and the instinct to flee hit her hard and heavy. There were reasons she only slept in her own bed. But then she inhaled and the musky masculine scent that was Paul filled her senses, a combination of deodorant and earth and the slightest hint of sweat, and it washed over her calmingly.

Paul must have grown warm last night because Cassie was positive she hadn't moved and the blankets had been kicked to the foot of the bed. The morning air in the cabin was cool, and the heat coming from the body next to her seductive, making her tuck her limbs up and burrow in. The soft grunt in his throat signified that her movement had woken her companion. The torso beneath Cassie shifted as Paul curled around her, the hollow created from the position being the perfect place for her balled up self to snuggle closer. A warm heavy hand was connected to the arm beneath her pillow, and that hand found the back of her head, fingers threading through the short tousled strands. His palm cradled her head protectively to his chest as she brushed her fingertips against the tanned skin in front of her.

A nose that was much too cold to fit this wonderfully heated body nudged at her jaw, and Cassie tipped her head sideways, leaving just enough room for said nose to bury behind the hollow of her ear. A contented snuff was followed by a second hand resting on the curve of her ass, tugging her hips closer and breaking her curl. One long leg slipped between hers, her right knee hooked over his hip, their limbs entangled. A quiet sigh as the hand dragged slowly up her spine, a massive arm angling across her back, with her smaller one around his waist and her palm against his stomach. An exhale, possibly from both of them, and a single shift deeper into sheets that smelled of Paul's skin and Cassie's shampoo.

Perfect.

Never in her life had she ever been wrapped up like this, her body meshing so well against another's. This was what it was supposed to feel like to be held, this was what it was supposed to be to hold another. For a moment Cassie was utterly lost in the sensations of it. It was as if someone had cut the ties that held her to the ground, to the unforgiving realities of life, and in their place was only Paul. She was tied to Paul, and held to him instead, and that overshadowed everything else. It was like her body was being realigned, readjusted, re-centered, and he was the core of that. The pull that Cassie had always felt towards him had jerked her flush, and even as Paul held her so gently against him, ropes were winding around her, binding her in place. It should have terrified her. Instead his name rolled from her lips and Cassie's grip on him tightened.

Paul was coming further awake, the hitch in his slow steady breathing giving him away almost as much as the rumbling purring noise that accompanied his nose nuzzling deeper into her hair. Cassie sighed softly and closed her eyes, her head rolling back instinctively and allowing Paul complete access to her. His warm breath ghosted over the skin of her throat, his tongue flicking out to taste her pulse point as he nosed his way back to where he had started. His body stayed relaxed against hers, unthreatening and undemanding, and Paul shifted them so that his comforting weight pressed her completely into the bedding. He was a blanket, a man, a friend, and in this moment he was hers. Only hers.

So perfect.

"Am I squishing you?" Paul murmured against her ear, sleepiness making his voice deepen sexily, and Cassie shook her head very slightly.

"S'goodsquishing," she mumbled, and he chuckled as her accent thickened her words. Paul's lips pressed a gentle kiss to her earlobe.

"You're gonna have to repeat that, Cass," he told her softly. "I couldn't understand."

In answer she wrapped her free arm around his neck and tightened the arm that had slid up to his ribcage, hugging him downwards as hard as she could. Paul exhaled, another warm breath against her ear and her heart, and he rested a little more of his weight into her, as if every inch of skin that touched between them satisfied something deep inside of him. Possibly it did, because it did to her too. Cassie wondered if she just laid here in his arms long enough, that maybe a wolf would succeed where all the king's horses and men had failed, and that maybe she _could_ be put back together again. It was a comforting thought, enough that she smiled, and in doing so drew Paul's attention to her lips. Kissing in the morning could be a tricky thing, but the large man just brushed his mouth over hers in a brief caress before returning to her neck.

Cassie knew the wolves were tactile, they liked casual contact with her and with each other, but in the few times they had been alone Paul had gradually taken that further. There were only a couple places that his hands hadn't at some point lingered, although with the exception of his unusual passion last night, his touch was only used as a physical reassurance that she was well and all accounted for. He would run his hands over every appropriate inch, as if he was checking her parts were safe and sound, even if he had just checked a few minutes ago. Paul didn't even seem to be aware that he did it. Even now, after spending a night at her side, the calloused hands were skimming over Cassie's body, not meant to arouse but to reassure himself. But she still liked them against her, and she still liked him against her. A lot.

"Never had a girl stay over," Paul rumbled as he traced his name against her hip, and her smile grew when his lips curled against her skin. "I should do it more often, this is a good way to wake up."

"Hmm," Cassie kept her eyes closed, thinking that the only way this moment could be better was if there were some heavier shades on those windows. She rubbed her knee against his side, pleased when he accommodated her by shifting his weight against her more fully. He seemed to realize that she was the type to wake up slowly, so he let her be, contenting himself to lay there and inhale her scent. Something must have changed from last night, perhaps she smelled more of him, because Paul seemed utterly distracted by it. She was used to men enjoying perfume or scented lotions, but the rain had washed away everything but the smell of her hair and the natural scent of her skin, so all he was smelling was her. Paul liked the smell of her. At least Cassie wasn't the stinky imprint any more.

Despite the brightness of the room, Paul's warmth and her level of contentment made her drift, and Cassie was almost back asleep when a light tapping came at the door. Paul growled in soft annoyance but stayed exactly where he was.

"Want me to get it?" Cassie mumbled, sleepiness making her forget to speak in English instead of her native tongue, and Paul smiled slightly when she scrunched her nose and repeated herself.

"I'm never gonna get tired of that," he murmured, nosing his way lower and brushing his lips across the swell of her breast before remembering himself and moving back to her collarbone. Then he said something towards the door in what Cassie assumed to be the Quileute language.

"What did you say?" she asked curiously, and Paul's smile grew.

"I said 'It will be hard to hunt without paws and half a tail. But by all means, knock again, brother'," Paul smirked, but then the expression turned to one of greater annoyance as a second knock came at the door. This time his growled words were louder, and even without being able to speak his language, Cassie was pretty sure she got the jist of it. A meek voice replied in kind through the wood, and Paul groaned.

"How is that my fault?" Paul muttered grumpily as he untangled himself from her and slipped out of the bed, making sure to tuck the blankets around Cassie's partially bare body before padding over to the front door. He jerked it open and glaring flatly at the intruder, who looked up at him innocently. Cassie yawned and rolled over, snuggling up on her side and perking up as the smell of sausage reached her nose.

"Okay, I know I know," the boy at the door was saying, a gym bag slung over his shoulder and a large paper bag held in front of him protectively. "But you can't kill me, because I ran all the way back to Seattle last night just to get Cassie some of her things. And I brought breakfast and that's gotta count for something, right? I also waited until nine, which was really nice of me considering I could have just stalked around the place making a racket until you and her woke up. And in being that I was forced to deliberately annoy you, and suffered both the physical abuse of my brothers and the emotional abuse of having to rifle through mama's underwear drawers, which are color coded, in case you're ever interested, I still made this as pleasant as possible. So…we're cool, right?"

Paul grunted and then took both bags, slamming the door in Collin's face. As he was padding back to the bed, his glare had returned to a smirk and the sparkle in his caramel eyes made Cassie laugh.

"That wasn't very nice," she chuckled, sitting up in bed and stretching. Paul's eyes flickered over her with brief interest before he sat the breakfast bag on top of the television and set the gym bag next to her on the bed.

"That was very nice," Paul disagreed. "Considering the other guys just offered Collin up as a sacrifice to gather information, he didn't even get roughed up at all. I must be going soft."

"Information on what? If we were getting busy last night?" she waggled her eyebrows and Paul's lips curved upwards slightly.

"Probably. That and if it was safe to come play with your car. I think the guys are drawing straws on who gets to fix it, but bribes with food are more Embry's style so my guess is he won. Most of the guys are off work or school today so expect to get swarmed. Don't worry, I won't let anyone but Emb or Quil do anything major on it. It's too bad Jake's gone, he's the best mechanic the Pack's got."

"Is it good to be the Alpha?" Cassie asked teasingly, and Paul shrugged as he sat down next to her, grabbing her bare foot and examining her toes.

"Probably," he admitted truthfully, refusing to let her pull her foot away when she tugged at his grip. Cassie didn't like people looking at her toes, they were too damaged from ballet, but Paul simply wrapped his warm hand around her foot and gave it a little squeeze. "Jake seems to like it now, but Sam didn't like being Alpha and I wouldn't want it. When Sam is finally able to stop phasing then I'll be the new third, and that's even more than I want. I already organize all the protection on the rez, and I'm always wondering if I'm running someone too hard or someone else is too green for what I've given them. The last time I tried to ease the guys off, Quil's imprint Claire and Embry's girlfriend Sims got attacked by a pair of leeches. Seth tried to take the blame when he talked to Jake, but it was mine."

"How big is the Pack?" Cassie asked, curling her toes to try and not brush them against his fingers. Paul very deliberately straightened each toe one by one.

"We're eleven strong, but we might be twelve if Jake and Jack manage to bring that pup back with them from Mexico. At this point Jake's so annoyed by chasing him around that when Jake catches him, Jake will be dragging him back by the ear. Two or three more of us guarding the borders would really help."

"Hmm, eleven wolves," Cassie nodded seriously. "I can see how any and all blame would be yours. You should be more perfect, Paul, because I certainly don't want to be the imprint of a wolf that isn't perfect. Really, what would all the other imprints say?"

"They'd say you were much too trouble to keep and that I should sell you," Paul growled playfully and lifted her foot up higher so that he could bite her ankle. "Or maybe I could just donate you, that way someone would have to take you," he added, tickling the bottom of her foot enough that she squealed and tried to escape by twisting away. Paul's eyes suddenly grew wide and he cringed, despite her giggling. "Did that hurt? Damn, I'm sorry, Cass. I forgot you were hurting last night, because you seemed okay this morning."

"I think you broke me," she sighed dramatically and then waggled her eyebrows. "You break it, you buy it. Sorry, Paul, but I think we just might be stuck with each other for eternity. As long as you don't suffer from male erectile dysfunction, I think we'll be okay. There's really just no working with that."

Cassie grinned impishly at him as Paul stared at her in shock, and then she suddenly found herself pinned back on the bed, a gorgeous male wolf braced above her. Paul's mouth ravaged hers and Cassie gasped when with a snap of fabric he tore her bra her completely off. Paul growled again, not at all playfully, and he jerked her legs apart as he grinded his hips down into hers. He was heavy, really heavy, and Paul must have realized that because he rocked back onto his heels, dragging her with him. Cassie's naked chest was pressed to Paul's, and she moaned when his hands brushed over the sides of her breasts, down her back, squeezing her ass and lifting her up against his…Oh. Point made. Point very well made.

"Cassie," Paul purred in her ear, squeezing her again and repeating the action, dragging another moan from her throat. "I am many things. _Impotent_ is _not_ one of them."

"Are you sure?" she managed to breathe, "Sometimes it's better to check these things to be positive."

Paul chuckled, easily holding her up with one arm as he threaded his fingers into her hair, "Don't tempt me, temptress," he murmured against her shoulder. "I didn't think this one through very well, and I'm pretty sure extracting myself from the situation might prove even more tempting."

Cassie realized that he had kept his eyes politely averted from her chest, even though they were skin to skin, and the attempt to retain her modesty made her feel suddenly sick to her stomach. Paul was better than this. Cassie quickly kissed him again, taking the control away from him as she arched against his body.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire," she hummed, rubbing her chest against his pointedly. "Anytime you want to get burned, Paul…" She left it hanging with enough innuendo that he frowned and pulled away, put off by her advance. Paul let her slide down and she chuckled, breaking the tension before it ever began.

"I never did like that bra anyways," she said cheerfully as she tucked a pillow in front of her chest, making Paul seem much happier. He scooted her over the bag of clothes Collin had brought and she dug into it, removing a red lacy garment from the top. She fastened the bra around her quickly, and the tension in Paul's shoulders slid away.

"Do you own anything that doesn't look like it came from Victoria's Secret, Cass?" Paul teased and she smiled.

"Yep. Most of them are higher end, although it looks like Collin grabbed every red set of lingerie that I own. Does he have a red fetish or something?" she asked, waggling a red thong at Paul and he blushed slightly, looking embarrassed.

"Collin likes green, I'm the one who likes red," Paul muttered. Cassie smirked at the younger man's efforts at matchmaking as she continued to see what Collin had brought. The bag smelled a little funky, and she wrinkled her nose as she pulled out her small stack of badly folded clothes to save them from the funk. She also pulled out her toothbrush, her hairbrush, and a pair of shorts that were most definitely not hers. "Eww, what does Collin normally keep in here? It smells like sweaty gym socks."

"If you're lucky," Paul said seriously and at her dismayed expression, he suddenly flashed a huge grin. "Be thankful Cass, at least he took his jock strap out first."

Cassie peered deeper into the bag and then she shuddered. "No, Paul. No, he didn't."

Even Paul looked a little grossed out at that one. Cassie stared at her toothbrush and then quickly stuffed it back inside before picking the duffle up with her fingertips. She closed her eyes and thrust it in Paul's direction, muttering, "_Eww_. Eww eww _eww_. I'm pretending my breasts are not touching something that touched Collin's sweaty genitals. Collin doesn't have genitals. There is no problem, none at all."

Paul snickered and took the bag from her, heading back outside. Even with the door closed behind him, Cassie could still hear Paul bellowing at Collin. "Hey dumbass! Go get her a new toothbrush! Because you're a gross fucking asshole, that's why! Yeah, right fucking now!" There was a loud thud and a not quite as loud curse, followed by a smugly smiling Paul coming back inside.

"You threw it at him, didn't you?" Cassie stated, laughing when Paul snagged the breakfast bag and bounced down heavily on the bed next to her. He pulled out a breakfast sandwich and stuffed the entire thing in his mouth, mumbling, "Maybe," before swallowing and hitting her with another huge grin.

"Want a sandwich?" he asked her, tipping the fully laden bag her way. Cassie poked her nose in and snagged out one of the many hash browns layered on the top. Paul frowned and wiggled the bag at her. "That's not all you're having, is it?" Paul asked her and Cassie nodded.

"Yeah. I'm not a breakfast girl, and the meds last night cut my appetite," she explained, picking at the fried potato wedge. "I'll be really hungry later, though, if you don't mind saving one of those in the fridge."

"Just one?" he was still frowning and Cassie grinned, crawling over and plopping down on his muscled stomach like he was a chair. Paul didn't even grunt when she bounced up and down a couple times before wiggling around and sitting more comfortably over his navel. She munched at her potato contentedly, looking around from her perch and ignoring his scowl.

"I'm little, Paul, it doesn't take as much to fill me up. Plus I didn't start eating junk food until pretty recently, so one of these still fills my stomach a lot more than it will five years from now. You're not one of those guys that obsesses about how much his girl eats, are you?"

Paul grunted, but there was a touch of guilt on his face. Cassie flicked a piece of potato at him playfully, and he growled at her, catching it in his mouth. She tore off a larger piece, unthinkingly offering it to him as she continued to examine his home in the light of day. She liked it even more like this, the sun made everything seem so bright and peaceful. Paul's teeth nipped her fingertips as he ate the potato from her fingers and she went back to munching away.

"I'm not going to get much bigger than this, Paul," Cassie shrugged. "I stopped exercising and watching what I ate after I quit dancing, and I gained weight until I reached this and leveled out. So this is me fat."

"You're kidding," Paul poked her bare side. She was bent over at the waist as she ate, so her stomach was squished slightly, and Paul tried to press her belly in between two of his fingers. "You must have been a stick when you danced."

"I prefer the term petite," Cassie chuckled. "Most ballerinas in Europe as supposed to be at least five foot-four, and obviously I'm four inches short of that. For my height, my weight was supposed to be eight-five pounds to dance, although it's more about body shape and muscle strength than anything. You can really mess yourself up dancing en pointe without the proper muscle tone. I had a hard time staying up to weight exercising that much, even though I was really good about eating healthy and eating enough. I'm ninety-two pounds now, three under what my mother weighs and bigger than my little sister. This is me. If you want more junk in the trunk, Paul, you're gonna have to go imprint shopping all over again."

"Unfortunately they have a no return policy for imprints, Cass, so I have to take what I get and make the most of it," Paul rumbled good naturedly around a second sandwich, grabbing her hips and twisting her so that she was still on his stomach facing away from him. Paul chuckled and smacked her rear end firmly. "But I still think I can fatten you up."

"Gonna fill me full of babies and leave me barefoot in your kitchen, Paul?" Cassie teased as she finished her potato, peering over her shoulder at him with an impish little smirk. And then she squealed as Paul lunged up and snatched her about the waist, twisting them both so that Cassie landed face down on his bed, his long strong body on top of hers.

"Depends, Cassie," he grinned against her hair as he began tickling her mercilessly. "Can you cook?" Paul asked as she shrieked and flailed, fighting him ineffectually.

"Not at all," she managed to get out eventually, reaching beside her to lightly scratch her nails down his arm. Paul made a buzzing noise against the nape of her neck, then grew distracted as he examined the bruise left there from biting her the night before. He kissed the bruise gently, whispering something too quiet for her to hear before Paul began playing idly with the lacy fabric of her thong where it lay across her junk-less trunk.

"Neither can I," he admitted. "But I'm really good at microwaving things."

"I can make a mean bag of chips," Cassie bragged, smiling into the pillow when Paul flicked her rear end repeatedly, trying to make it jiggle.

"Damn, baby, that's why I love you," Paul joked, and Cassie knew he didn't mean it, but there was an affection in his voice that wasn't normally there. Cassie exhaled slowly and then flipped over beneath him, raising her eyes to his. Paul had been smirking down at her but at her expression his grew more serious.

"That's not something to joke about, Paul," Cassie said quietly, a sad little smile on her face. Paul didn't answer, instead he just looked at her as if he was memorizing her in that moment, every line and curve of her face. Then he nodded in understanding.

"I realize that," he told her simply, echoing her words from the previous night as he added, "Now that you've told me. You don't trust me at all, do you, Cass?"

Cassie tipped her head to the side in confusion and Paul took her face in his hands, kissing her lightly. "You're my imprint, Cassie, the only one I'll ever have. Whether you understand this yet or not, I take caring for you very seriously. And the Pack does love each other, it's just part of it, and the more dominant the wolf the more they feel that. Jake and Seth love us all so much it completely affects everything they say and do, and they'd tear this world apart to protect us. Cass, just the fact that you're Pack is going to make them love you, even if they barely know you. You're one of us and that's all that matters."

Cassie nodded and Paul paused, trying to words this in a way that wouldn't come out wrong. "I'm pretty dominant, so I'm very protective of all the Pack, especially the girls. I'm not trying to be blind or sexist, but it's just how I am. I know I love the imprints, and I know that at some point I'm going to love you too. Pack hits us all pretty strongly. I want to be close to you and the rest of the Pack will want to be close to you, to show you that you matter to us. It's built into us. It's why half the Pack is waiting in the front yard for us to be done so they get to meet you properly. I know you've met most of them, but it's different now that you know about who we really are."

"They're outside?" Cassie asked, surprised. She hadn't heard a word. "Shouldn't we go be polite or something?"

"No. I'm with my imprint," Paul grunted. "And you're having breakfast. They can wait until you're ready to go see them."

"So imprints are an acceptable reason for rudeness? That's kind of crappy, Paul. And to be honest, indulging someone like this only leads to spoiled brats. It's very bad imprint raising procedures, just for the record."

"Terrible, I know," Paul agreed solemnly. "We had to toss out the first set out and start all over again." Then suddenly Paul barked out a laugh. "Cass, you have absolutely everything you could ever want, so you're the last person to talk about being spoiled."

Cassie smiled at that but didn't respond, and Paul brushed another light kiss across her lips. Then he sighed. "Listen, Cassie, because you need to understand some things. As my imprint, you outrank absolutely everyone else in my life, even if there wasn't a single thing about you I liked or respected."

"But-"

"Just listen. You're my imprint, the wolf inside me picked you, and that will never change. Imprints are irreversible. The wolf loves you and I _will_ love you eventually, and you need to be prepared for me to tell you that. It doesn't mean I'm _in_ _love_ with you, Cass, it just means that the word will come out at some point. It's not me teasing you, or trying to jerk you around, it's just the truth. And if you can learn to trust me, learn to tell me what you really want and what you really think, then I'll do better with all this. I'm trying my best to do good by you, but if you help me figure out how, it'll be easier. I'm going to mess up, probably a lot, but I'm never going to try and hurt you."

"What about biting me last night?" she countered, but instead of growing defensive, Paul just ran a thumb along her jaw.

"What does more damage, Cass?" he asked quietly. "Me leaving a bruise on your neck, or you giving yourself one inside? One heals a whole lot faster than the other, and I don't play around when it comes to protecting what's mine. I've spent enough time in Leah's head to know how much emotion can lay behind a single word when it comes to women. We used to be jerks, throwing insults and words at her because we didn't understand how deeply they cut. Now? Now there's not a single one of us that won't bite the hell out of her when she uses words to attack herself. We love her and we won't put up with it, none of us. But you're not Leah, you're not unbreakable, and that's not a response that I can use with you. If I was following my instincts better then I wouldn't have done it, but I don't want to let the wolf run this show when it comes to you. I'm a person, even if I'm not human, and I have a say too."

"What are your instincts telling you to do?" Cassie asked curiously and Paul shook his head, as if a mixture of confused and resigned.

"They say to mate with you," Paul said honestly. Then he chuckled and ran a hand over her flat stomach. "They say to 'fill you full of babies', as you put it, and to make you eat three sandwiches right this minute and to never let you out of here."

"So I'm a prisoner, huh?" Cassie raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. "Without the conjugal visits, this is going to suck, Paul. Between the lack of sex and the overindulgence of your time and attention, I'm not sure I can hang."

"Where do you think all of the babies are going to come from?" Paul growled playfully, and Cassie couldn't help giggling when he scooted down and blew a big wet raspberry on her stomach. Then he sighed and sat back on his heels.

"Cass? Will all of this be easier if I just show you?" he asked gruffly, running a hand over his head. "You're still just working off my word that I'm a wolf. Would proof of that help you? It helped Kim."

"Nope."

"Really?" He seemed surprised. "You really don't want me to show you?"

"I really don't want you to show me," Cassie nodded. Then she smiled. "Do you want to show me? Because then yes, by all mean, show me."

"You lost me there."

Cassie rested her ugly toed foot right in the middle of his chest and gave him a playful shove that didn't move him at all. "It's not all about the imprint, Paul. Or at least, it's not all about _this_ imprint, Paul. If it's important for you to show me, then you should show me."

"Actually, I'd rather not," Paul admitted. "We're really big when we're phased, about the size of a small horse, except our bodies are longer. Jared phases around Kim because she thinks he's cute and Claire likes to ride Quil around like a pony, but accidents have happened. You're just too small, Cass, and I won't risk that if I can help it."

Paul ran a hand along the leg braced against his chest, letting his eyes sweep over her again before shaking his head. "Either way, you need to put some clothes on. I've reached my limit of how much partially naked girl in my bed I can handle without mauling you, and I'm pretty sure you're too small for that too."

He thought she was too small for him to have sex with her. For some reason that struck Cassie as really sweet but even more it struck her as really funny. She was still laughing when he climbed grumbling out of the bed and went into the bathroom to change. Cassie was snickering when Paul glared at her before tossing two sandwiches in the fridge for her for later, and then he took himself and the rest of the bag outside, shirtless. She was used to him clothed because of him coming into her hotel, but Paul in a pair of worn jeans and nothing else was a dangerous sight. He poked his head back inside after a moment.

"Hey Cass? We're going to get started on your car, the guys are going nuts waiting," Paul shook his head in mild exasperation. "You'd think they'd never seen a Vette before, but since it's yours and you're mine, they won't touch it without me saying they can."

"I'm sure I was belittled somewhere in that statement," Cassie murmured to the ceiling, but it didn't agree or disagree. The huge man chuckled and tossed her a brand new red toothbrush, still in its packaging.

"If you want a shower, towels are in the closet. The water may or may not be warm in there."

Paul disappeared and Cassie couldn't help but laugh. Basically Paul's attitude was she could make herself at home, but to figure things out herself. He wasn't exactly the host type, but then again Cassie had enough people catering to her when she didn't need it. Paul's approach to her was refreshing and made her feel more competent. Cassie waited until she could hear the gradual rise of masculine voices before slipping out of bed and sneaking over to the kitchen window to take a look. Cassie went up on her toes, peering outside curiously. She had never seen this many of the Pack together and had hoped there would be an imprint or two with them, she had liked Kim and Emily. Instead there were four shirtless and two shirted wolves mulling about in varying activities, making Cassie raise an eyebrow in interest at the sheer amount of muscle mass out there.

The two shirted ones were standing together, arms crossed identically and their heads together as they discussed something with Paul. Paul said something and shook his head, his lips curving ever so slightly, and the two looked up at the house. The shorter wider one barked out a laugh before ducking beneath the popped hood, and the other caught her spying at them. She remembered him, it was Embry, the guy from the mall. He flashed her a quick grin and then gave Paul the same, patting the older man on the back as if in sympathy. Collin darted behind their backs, giving Paul bunny ears for Cassie's benefit, and she dropped back down to her heels, giggling despite Paul having clocked Collin across the jaw.

She was pretty sure Collin got that kind of treatment a lot.

Paul had been right. The water was not warm, but Cassie was used to short showers so she didn't freeze for too long. She hadn't meant to invade his privacy, but Collin had only brought her dresses and shorts and had forgotten a razor, so she had to dig into his cupboards and steal one of his. Contentedly squeaky clean, Cassie dried off and went back into the main room of Paul's cabin. Cassie's hair was wet, but her towel was already wrapped around her torso, so it only made sense to go into Paul's closet to try to find a second towel. There weren't any more full sized towels, but there was a hand towel that would work and Cassie stretched up onto her tip toes to get it. Maybe if she hadn't have been so short the incident wouldn't have happened, but as it was, Cassie could only see the towel and not the spider that sat on top of it.

For the record, it was a really big spider.

This occurred to her in that brief moment were her fingers pulled the towel just enough for it to come sliding down off the shelf and onto her head, the poor hapless spider along with it. Cassie let out a gasp, and then the towel hit the ground. She yipped and jumped away from the towel on the floor, waiting for the spider to come scuttling out and to let her know which way to go to avoid it. Cassie didn't like killing things, not personally, although hamburgers were good so cows were okay to die and vampires could die too. But she didn't blame the spider for wanting to retain its tenuous hold on life. That was until she flipped the towel over with her toe and realized that the spider wasn't there. It was about this time that Cassie felt thick little black legs scurrying across her scalp.

Cassie let out a bloodcurdling scream, losing her grip on her towel as she tried to furiously brush the spider out of her hair, jumping up and down as the spider hung tight to her roots and the towel hit the ground. And that's how they found her, Paul and Jared, Collin and Brady, Embry and Quil, six of them staring in shock as a butt naked Cassie jumped and shrieked and flailed about miserably.

"Get it off! Get it off, get it off, _get it off_!" she cried, and then Cassie shrieked even louder as she felt scuttling between her shoulder blades. "Oh my god, you're all werewolves! Get it _off_!"

It's not that the Pack was incompetent. It's not that they were unwilling to help their newest imprint, especially when she was so obviously upset. It was just that…

"Holy shit Collin, Paul's girl's _naked_," and unknown wolf whispered in a mixture of awe and horror. "And she's _jumping_."

"He can't kill all of us for seeing this, right?" Collin was demanding of Paul's best friend. "Jared? Right?"

"Wow, she's really really _naked_."

"That's what Brady already said, Quil."

"Sims is gonna kill me for seeing this shit…"

"_GET IT OFF_!"

It seemed that seeing her naked had killed Paul's brain, because he was standing glued to the floor with his jaw dropped, and apparently no one touched the most dominant wolf in the room's imprint unclothed. Not even in times of duress. Which meant that Cassie had no choice but to dash to the shower and jump back in, thinking that water would kill it, water would _have_ to kill it. Nope. Water just made it scurry down her leg and cling to her knee, and jumping in the shower was a bad idea because jumping in the shower meant falling in the shower, which meant having her face much closer to the spider and the little bastard was _holding on_. She screamed and beat at her knee with a bar of soap, scuttling backwards out of the stall and knocking her head on the pedestal sink, and somewhere around this time it must have occurred to Paul that Cassie needed a little help with the situation.

The spider took one look at Paul coming for it and decided that it would fare better on the floor.

"Right there, right there!" Cassie jumped up and down, pointing at the spider, and Paul stomped on it. It must have survived in the arch of his foot, because as soon as Paul lifted his foot, the spider darted to the left and Cassie shrieked again, jumping back and knocking into the glass door of the shower, making a loud cracking noise as she kept pointing. "It's there, Paul! Kill it! _Kill it_!"

Outside in the hall the Pack had gathered, listening in amusement as Paul cursed and Cassie squealed and the spider kept narrowly escaping its fate in Paul's highly arched foot and the deep tile grout. "And that, ladies and gentlemen," Collin said with a huge grin at his Packmates, "Is how Cassie Fedorova wrecked her car. I'm thinking she shouldn't be allowed near heavy machinery."

"I hate you, Collin!" Cassie yelled through the door as Paul kept stomping at the spider, looking a little embarrassed as he failed in the task his imprint had assigned him.

"Wow, the little shit won't die, huh?" Paul muttered as it made a dash across the bathroom, sending Cassie scrambling up on top of the sink, her knees to her chest. It didn't occur to her that the lack of Paul's lethalness might have a direct correlation to her nudity, or that if she would just sit differently than the spider would already be dead.

"_Oh my god_, Paul, you're a finely honed killing machine, so just _kill it_!"

"She says that a lot," Collin supplied outside the door as Jared started laughing hysterically. Collin ducked his head through the crack in the doorway, trying not to look directly at the naked girl on the sink. "Need some help, bro?" he offered brightly, and then he cursed as the spider saw its opportunity and made a dart across his foot.

"Yeah, squash it before Cassie has an aneurism," Paul growled, following the spider into the hall and looking slightly pale. Despite being really good at killing multiple large things, the wolves were having a bit of a time killing this one particular small thing. It wasn't really their fault because it was quite a resilient spider, and a certain little blonde had stuck her head and torso out of the bathroom with only a six pack of toilet paper clutched to her chest for modesty.

Cassie didn't know all of their names, but she did her best to cheer on those wolves that she did in their killing, gesturing helpfully and hopping up and down every time they were close to killing it. Oddly enough, that was usually when they missed. "Go, Embry! Oh no, behind you! Jared, get it! Collin, it's coming back this way! It's coming back! Eek! Oh crap, Paul-"

Paul's hand hit the floor with a particularly loud slap, accompanied by a squish. The spider was dead and Paul, her wonderful wolf, had killed it. Yay, Paul.

"Dude, that spider squooged all over you hand," the younger wolf next to Collin snickered, and Paul grabbed the wolf's head and wiped it over his face. "Ugh! That was nasty, Paul!"

"Then don't be a dumbass, Brady," Paul grunted as he shook his head and grabbed up Cassie's two towels, practically throwing them at her.

"Quil, for the record if Sims asks," Embry whispered out of the side of his mouth to the wolf next to him as Cassie tried to juggle her toilet paper and catch the two towels. "I was not here. I saw nothing."

"Embry, you lying piece of shit," Jared laughed. "We all saw _everything_. Although I don't know what Paul did to ever deserve _that_. Damn, dude."

"This girl tried to kill a leech?" Quil seemed utterly amused. "The tiny nugget in the bathroom? Dude, Cullen's losing his edge."

"I would have loved to see her try to kill Edward," Jared murmured. "Especially naked. That would have been hot."

"Uh oh, papa wolf's getting growly, boys," Collin muttered as Paul pushed Cassie and her toilet paper none too gently into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. The eldest wolf looked ready to either get sick or kill something. "Better icks nay on the aked nay Assie Kay."

"Assie Kay, that's my new nickname for-" It was probably Jared's new nickname for Cassie, but it ended up being one of life's little mysteries as the Pack was quite physically thrown out of the cabin. Paul slammed that door too and then leaned his head on it, groaning.

"Please tell me you have clothes on," he groaned as Cassie slipped back into the room.

"I have a towel, does that help?" She asked cheerfully and Paul smacked his head on the door, groaning a second time.

"No, Cass. No, it doesn't help. You need to get naked you in a fucking parka or some shit-"

"Lan-_guage_," Cassie singsonged brightly and Paul slammed his head against the door again, mumbling something under his breath before regulating his tone.

"Sorry," he said, not at all sounding apologetic. "Cass. Cassie. You need to get naked you into a parka, or a mumu, or better yet the ugliest thing you own. Otherwise I'm going to spend the rest of my life with them replaying their own versions of this in their heads indefinitely. It's probably too late, but maybe we can scour your hotness out of their brains. My brain. All of our brains."

"Would it help if I saw them naked? Then everyone's even?" Cassie asked hopefully as she grabbed her clothes off of the bed and Paul growled, sending her scurrying back to the bathroom with a laugh. The huge man sighed one more time and rubbed his temples before taking a long soothing breath. He wouldn't kill them. He wouldn't kill any of them. As long as no one spoke to and looked at him for a month, no one would die. Yes. He could do this. Paul forced a smile onto his face that was more frightening than his frowns were and he stomped outside to possibly slaughter the majority of his Pack.

The second spider up on the shelf decided that maybe now would be a good time to relocate.

* * *

For the record, if Samantha had known she was delivering a letter to a house full of vampires, she would have told Seth to go screw himself.

As it was, she had just been happy to score an extra twenty bucks because Seth was too lazy to run his own errands, and with Embry off having a guy's day with Quil and the others, at least she had something to do. Pulling Embry's truck up the drive had given her a pause, the house in Forks was way too nice to make her comfortable and it sent off a warning deep in her bones, and it was with trepidation that she killed the ancient engine and headed up the walk to the front door.

A beautiful blonde vampire opened the door and looked at Samantha with thinly veiled distaste. Samantha narrowed her eyes, thinking the feeling was mutual.

"Umm, hi," Samantha said, feeling her heart rate increase the way it always did when around vampires. "Seth Clearwater asked me to deliver this you and to make sure you read it before I left." She handed the vampire the letter and stepped back uncomfortably, noticing a familiar car in the driveway. It was Carlisle Cullen's car, and Samantha growled under her breath. She really did hate being around vampires, and Seth was a little shit for not telling her this was the Cullen residence.

The blonde sniffed and wrinkled her nose as if something smelled very badly, then she tore the envelope open with one manicured fingernail. She read the slip of paper inside and then sighed in annoyance.

"You can go now," the blonde stated, turning her back on Samantha and shutting the door in her face. Samantha rolled her eyes and headed back to the truck. Oh yeah, Seth was a goner. As soon as she was in the dubious safety of the truck and halfway to the reservation line, Samantha flipped her cell phone open to make a call to Leah, thinking the she-wolf could maybe maul Seth a little for her, just because they were good friends like that. She dropped the phone back on the seat, however, realizing it was dead. Funny, she'd thought she had fully charged it last night at Embry's, but she and Embry had gotten a little extra energetic and she must have accidentally knocked it loose.

"Well Seth, thank your lucky stars for the moment. Because later you will pay," she promised the empty truck and then turned up the radio. Samantha settled on a country radio station, thinking that it was only appropriate to blast George Strait while driving Embry's truck. It was rare to spend a Sunday anywhere but with Embry, but he'd been so excited to get to work on Paul's imprint's car that he'd been barely able to sleep last night, with Quil nearly as bad. Samantha had kicked them both out of their own house this morning and told them to have fun. Embry had promised he'd make the extra time spent with the guys up to her, but Samantha thought it was better this way. Embry had been having trouble getting along with some of the guys in the Pack, although he'd glossed over why when she'd pressed, and it was nice for him to hang out with them without her being there.

Samantha wasn't stupid. She knew that a lot of Embry's problems with his friends were probably centered around her.

Not wanting to dwell on that, Samantha lost herself in daydreams of when she'd be ready to fight her first MMA match, if she'd get her ass kicked or if Embry would be proud of her, and if maybe if she asked nicely that her father would come. She daydreamed of sitting at a restaurant afterwards, the three of them laughing and talking and going over the details of the fight, what she did well and what she could have done better. And since she was being this completely unrealistic, she daydreamed of her father's arm over her mother on one side of the table, and Embry's arm over her on the other. She even stuck Billy Black at the table and the mystery Alpha, because even if he had never directly said anything, the way Embry talked about Billy Black with a mixture of disappointment and love gave him away every time. She daydreamed of them eating and teasing and Embry being happy and her being happy and him taking her home afterwards. She daydreamed of his hands on her skin and his body over hers and them finally finishing the lovemaking that they only skirted when lost in each other's arms. She daydreamed…

She daydreamed that she didn't have a damn _vampire_ sitting in the bed of the truck.

Samantha glanced in the rearview mirror and let out a gasp, slamming on the brakes and nearly cracking her head on the steering wheel as the truck squealed and fishtailed to a stop. There was a brown haired vampire standing in the bed, bent over so that his face had been only mere inches from behind her head. Knowing that she was screwed no matter what she did, Samantha bailed from the truck and spun, crouched in the gravel and telling herself that Embry was going to destroy this asshole if he touched a hair on her head.

"Sorry I scared you," the muscular vampire said pleasantly, hopping out of the truck bed.

"Bullshit," Samantha snapped, taking a step back as he took a step forward. "What the hell do you want?"

He smiled toothily at her and held out something. It was two sealed letters. Samantha stayed exactly where she was. Snickering, the vampire stuck the letters beneath the windshield wiper and took a step back.

"One is for Seth from Bella and the other Nessie wants Seth to read to Jake," the vampire told her in a friendly manner. "Really, all you Pack girls are so high strung, you need to lay off the caffeine." He winked at her and was gone. Samantha took one hard breath and then another, then she cursed, kicking at the gravel beneath her. Freaking _Seth_. He was so gonna die, and she was _so_ not his errand girl, not even for double the money next time. There was something about these vampires that just made her want to shriek and go running for the hills.

Snatching the letters from the windshield, Samantha climbed back into the truck. A little light on the seat caught her attention. Oh great, now her phone worked, now that the vampire wasn't a threat. Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Samantha punched the gas, deciding that La Push was preferable to Forks any day of the week. As the truck disappeared, the tall russet skinned man stepped out of the trees, joining where the vampire stood waiting for him.

"Emmett," Seth nodded, and the vampire shrugged by way of greeting.

"I was back there for almost fifteen minutes and she never noticed," Emmett informed him. "I even let myself get hungry just to see if it helped, but nothing. Tell Jake that if she was going to phase, it probably would have happened when I was seriously considering biting her."

Seth frowned at that and Emmett laughed.

"Well, you wanted an actual test, didn't you? I don't know. Didn't Leah phase because she was pissed off? You could try getting her mad or getting her scared, that might work. Oh, and Rose thought the little dog bone on the paper was cute."

"I can't help my natural adorableness," Seth admitted, still staring where the truck had disappeared. "Damn, I was kind of hoping that might work. Okay. Thanks, man," Seth bumped fists with Emmett and then carefully schooled his thoughts so that Leah and Sam wouldn't see what he'd just tried to do. Then he phased back, just about the time that Embry dropped a Corvette on Paul's imprint.

* * *

"Dude, Quil, you're _wrong_."

"No way, Emb, I'm completely right."

From his place beneath Cassie's car, Embry growled in annoyance before grabbing hold of the undercarriage, his muscles flexing as he hoisted himself out from underneath. He glared at Quil, and when Quil ignored him and continued poking lovingly at the engine block, Embry smacked his wrench into Quil's ankle without holding back. The younger wolf cursed and jumped, knocking his head on the raised hood, and then he growled back at Embry.

"What the hell, man?" Quil demanded as he hopped on one foot, shaking out the pain in the other one. Embry pulled himself all the way out and sat up, rubbing his grease covered hands together.

"You're being a perfectionist, Quil. It's just a car," Embry said, shaking his head, and Quil looked at him as if he was crazy.

"It's a brand new Corvette, Emb," Quil spoke very slowly as if Embry was particularly dense. "Just a car? This is a _ZR1_, you goddamn _moron_. This is a _hundred thousand dollar_ vehicle, complete with a 6.2 liter V8 with over six hundred horsepower!"

"Six hundred and thirty-eight," Cassie chirped helpfully from her perch on top of the roof of the car, where she lay stretched out and reading a worn copy of The Two Towers. After twenty minutes of Cassie mass hitting on the Pack and causing Brady to flee (the kid might have been tough as hell, but Cassie had killer legs and could sniff out male weakness like a pint sized bloodhound), Paul had shoved a book under her nose and told her to behave. So far it had successfully distracted her, but Paul had already devised his next four plans of attack in keeping her entertained when this failed. However, things were much better when no one talked and distracted her from being distracted.

"Six thirty-eight? Wow, that's cool," Jared murmured to Paul, where the two sat trying to bend the skid plate back into its original shape.

"With six hundred and thirty-eight horsepower, _Embry_, thank you very much Cassie," Quil smiled at her sweetly before he turned and kicked Embry in the side. "It can go over two hundred miles an hour, asshole, which means for those of us who are too fucking stupid to understand, you don't _improvise _on it. It means that you get off your lazy ass and order the right oil pan straight from the goddamn manufacturer. It means you thank your goddamn lucky stars that Cullen presented you with this amazing opportunity to sit around and wait for that part. Because this is not a _car_, retard, it is a motherfucking _masterpiece_, and it has never done a goddamn thing to deserve your dumbass to _improvise_ on it. I…am…right!"

"Watch your fucking mouth around my fucking imprint, Quil," Paul snapped, glaring at Quil, who was too busy glaring at Embry to notice.

"Lan-_guage_, Paul," Cassie reminded him sweetly, kicking her booted toe lightly against the rear windshield, and Jared snickered as Paul's teeth began grinding together.

Embry calmly stood up and looked over at Paul's imprint. "Cass, honey, how good are you at driving this thing? Honestly?"

"Not too good," she admitted, turning a page and popping the piece of gum she had bummed from Jared earlier. "I've kind of regretted getting it after the first couple weeks. I can't reach the pedals very well, and Roman says I'm gonna kill myself if I keep trying to shift into seventh."

Paul let out a groan and buried his face in his hands. Embry and Quil exchanged a pained look, and from where he was pulling off the spare tire, Collin tipped his head to the side. "Cass?" Collin said in confusion. "This thing's a six speed, it doesn't have a seventh gear."

"It means she's trying to shift from sixth gear straight into reverse, Collin," Jared explained, patting Paul on the back comfortingly. "Have you ever seen a transmission fall straight out of a car at a hundred miles an hour? Or two hundred miles an hour? The whole car will come to a screeching halt, driver included."

Collin blinked, and then shuddered. Embry turned back to Quil, smiling beatifically.

"Quil, if this was your car, then yes. I would consider it a masterpiece," Embry agreed. "But it is not your car, it is Cassie's car, and after spending just a couple hours with her, I can honestly say that it is not a masterpiece. It is a deathtrap. I wouldn't let Sims within twenty yards of the driver's seat of this thing."

"Hmm, Embry's a sexist," Cassie noted, turning a page. "I'm starting to think Tolkien was too. There's a significant lack of female characters in this thing. Plus it's all good to go fight to save the world and everything, but I hate it when all the men in a story insist on going off and slaughtering things. Did anyone ever ask the orcs their opinions about being slaughtered? I might be a hypocrite though, because I never stopped to ask Mr. Cullen his opinion before trying to slaughter him. Maybe I should work on that. Maybe Embry should work on not being a sexist, although I suppose sexism is a personal choice. Personally I choose to abstain from it."

"Burn, Emb," Quil snickered as Embry blinked.

"I'm not a sexist," he protested. "My girl's totally badass and I flaunt that proudly. I love women."

"Right here," Collin waved his hand in the air over his head. "Loving women right here."

"Loving women and controlling them are totally different," Cassie mentioned idly, popping her gun. "I love women, too, but I'm not going to tell them what they should or should not drive based on if they have breasts or not, not even if I had a penis."

"I don't tell Sims what to do," Embry argued, and Paul could see Emb racking his brain for examples of him doing so. Paul didn't have to try so hard.

"The truck, the cell phone, the clothes you make her take that you buy for her, the job that so _conveniently_ didn't want her back because it made her walk to the edge of our borders every night," Paul listed blandly. "Want me to keep going?"

"Dude, you got Sims fired behind her back? That's cold, you know how broke she is," Collin shook his head and Embry tried and failed to look innocent.

"How did I miss that?" Jared asked, and Paul smirked as he hoisted the skid plate up in his fist.

"Because he doesn't feel bad about it at all and therefore doesn't think about it at all," the eldest wolf informed them, and Embry flashed Paul a white toothed grin before reaching over and popping Cassie's bubble mid formation. She made a sad little noise when gum stuck to her face and Embry patted her hand sympathetically.

"It was a bullshit job that Sims should never have had to work while in school," Embry said without remorse, leaning against the car nearer to Cassie. She pulled the gum from her face and stuck it back in her mouth, scooting closer to the edge of the roof so that she could lean her head against Embry's arm. The wolf smiled down at her fondly, shifted so that her head was on his arm more comfortably, and Cassie blew another bubble that Embry promptly popped back onto her face. They repeated the process a couple times before Cassie declared her gum now axel grease flavored and that Embry was no longer her favorite, making the big wolf chuckle. As she stuck her gum on the end of Embry's nose with Emb standing patiently as she rearranged it to suit her liking, Paul wondered if Cassie did this shit on purpose, appealing to their ingrained affection for the imprints, or if it was just natural for her to play with them.

"You guys all saw how messed up that leech left her," Embry mentioned after Cassie had returned her attention to Paul's book, ignoring the gum perched proudly on his nose. "And you all knew she was about to walk away from my sorry ass, so what was I supposed to do? Let her keep hoofing it all that way every day with half her chest smashed in? She would have been so messed up from that, it would have taken her forever to heal up. I feel guilty as hell every time she gets sad about not being able to find a job, but I'd rather that then her have ended up back in the hospital. Plus she shouldn't _have_ to work, not this young, not to support Carter. He can fend for himself and I make sure my girl's got what she needs, don't I? I don't control Sims, I take care of her," Embry decided, a proud smile coming to his face as he thought about it.

Cassie snuck a glance at Paul. He could see her weighing whether or not Paul would appreciate her pushing the issue and he shook his head ever so slightly. She smiled and winked at him, and Paul rolled his eyes, intuitively knowing that telling Cass what to not do while involved in this particular discussion was ironic enough to amuse her. He also didn't want to know how he knew that.

"Bull shit, Emb," Jared was smirking, sharing a look with Quil. "You may not say anything directly, but that girl makes choices every day to keep you happy. When's the last time she did something she knew you wouldn't like?"

Embry just shrugged and flashed them all a grin. "If I was controlling, don't you think I'd have already stolen her away and made her live with me? I can think of lots of things that I would rather be doing if I was controlling, but I can't because Sims would kick my ass. Knowing my luck Leah would help her and Seth would sit back watching the whole thing while inhaling popcorn. Plus you guys are hypocritical assholes. You do the same things to your imprints and you know it. Kim and Claire live in bubble wrap and Paul's got the whole Pack stalking Seattle. Cassie, what's your feeling on stalkers?"

Paul growled lightly as Embry threw him under the bus in front of his imprint, but she just shrugged.

"As long as they're as hot as my wolf, then I'm game. Hey Paul, if you had to wrap me in something, what would it be?" Cassie wanted to know, immediately by-passing the insult to Paul, and Paul chuckled when she waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively. Collin shot Cassie an appreciative look that she didn't notice because her hazel eyes were locked on him. Paul grinned over at Cassie, who had rolled onto her back, her shirt stretching pleasantly over her chest and her hair flopping out of her eyes. He liked her better on her back, he decided.

"After the spider incident this morning, I'm considering you covered in anything at all as being a win-win situation, Cass," Paul informed her. "And Emb, the last time I told my imprint she shouldn't do something, she threatened to cut my balls off," Paul smirked and Cassie laughed that soft breathy laugh that still got to him way too much for someone who just wanted to keep things mostly platonic.

"That's because you bit me, Paul," Cassie reminded him, turning another page. She read much faster than he would have thought for English not being her first language. "Which _was_ controlling, but I countered your efforts and in you backing down and me simultaneously acceding to your wants, the imprint/wolf balance structure has been regained. I think Paul loves me, guys, but it's too soon for him to tell. He hasn't determined the proper grunting noise to express the sentiment."

Collin tried to cover up his snort by coughing, and Paul's imprint's fingers began tapping on the book cover. She was getting bored, which meant she was about to-

"You know, men spend way too much time trying to decide what women should or shouldn't do," Cassie declared to the group, rolling back over and kicking her feet again, and Paul sighed in resignation as her boots scraped the expensive glass. "When really all that happens is you guys leave and we have to figure out how to do it anyway. Usually badly the first couple times, but that's where the men come around and pat us on the head and tell us to leave that kind of thing to the men. Only maybe if the men had been a little more supportive in the first place, and helped the women learn to properly do what the men had already decided the women shouldn't do, then the men would realize that their owns lives could be much easier if they stopped trying to handle everything themselves and loosen up a little bit.

"When I date a girl, I don't try to control her, because that's really very belittling, and I certainly wouldn't want anyone to belittle me. By the way, Quil, Embry's right. Just slap a different oil pan on the bottom, improvise away. Because unless I mysteriously advance in my driving abilities or someone actually bothers to help me learn how to drive this thing, I'll probably end up trashing it pretty soon anyway. Paul, you don't have another book, do you? I don't like this one."

Everyone but Paul blinked, although Collin recovered faster than the others.

"What…?" Embry looked to Paul for help.

"She said that she wants someone to teach her to drive. And she wants a new book," Paul supplied, wearily standing up and heading back into the cabin. He came out with a different novel and handed it to her. "And I think she might have said that she's a lesbian. Cass?"

"Bi-sexual," she smiled and pecked Paul on the cheek in thanks. "I like people. It seemed like a waste to alienate half of my possible physical and emotional connections by being gender biased. I usually prefer warm and hard but sometimes warm and soft is nice too. Stephen King, huh? Not quite enough horror in your life already, Paul?"

"It was containable but imprinting hiked that up a notch," he countered and Cassie snickered as she read the back cover.

"When you're ready to drop the solitary masculine wolf routine and resign yourself to a wonderful eternity of complete codependency and killer sex, just let me know, Paul," Cassie purred, already opening up the book.

"Baby, as long as you're in a loving committed relationship with your shoe closet, I'm sure you don't need me."

"You called me baby. See? You love me."

Embry laughed and went back to the hood of the car, sharing a grin with Quil as the younger wolf examined Embry's improvised oil pan. "Hey Collin, are they always like this?"

"Naw, usually Cassie's much dirtier," Collin smirked as Embry forgot he had gum on his nose. "She's trying not to embarrass Paul in front of his friends. Of course, considering the fact that we've all seen her naked at this point, we might be past that."

"Anyone who wants to strip so that we can even out the playing field is welcome to," Cassie commented as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and looked at it, then wrinkled her nose and stuck it back in.

"Who was that?" Paul rumbled, and Cassie frowned briefly.

"Bald headed bouncer named Derek. I went through my bouncer phase a while ago and this one keeps hanging on a little too hard. I sent out the memo that I'm an imprint now and therefore am supposed to be providing you multiple babies, but he never was particularly literate. Paul, I'm bored. Do you want to have this baby towed and go explore La Push instead?"

"Nope. I could go play kill it with the bouncer though, if you'd like."

"But that would be entirely after the fact, meaning that the kill it would be for you and not for me," Cassie countered. "Where's the fun in that?"

"It's not all about you, Cass," Paul chuckled as he gave up on the skid plate and stood up. He headed over to the car and she gazed up at him hopefully as he braced his elbows on either side of her, taking her face in his hands. Knowing better and doing it anyways, Paul tipped her mouth up to his and kissed her. Cassie made a little happy noise in her throat, then settled into the kiss with a little too much enthusiasm for the audience they had. Paul tried to keep his head, he really did, but she distracted him. The wolf, who had been dormant since late last night and tended to withdraw uncomfortably when Embry was around, perked up in interest when Paul didn't pull away like he'd planned.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, it was dangerously easy to get lost in the feel of his imprint's lips against his own, but at some point either he was going to have to end this or throw her over his shoulder and take her back inside. Despite his belief that he was going to wreck things between them if he caved, Paul was seriously tempted to go Neanderthal on his tiny imprint, up until the point she boldly slid her hand into his front pocket. It jerked him back to reality and he gave her a disapproving look as he finally pulled away.

Everyone but Embry and Collin had disappeared, presumably to go bring some lunch, and Collin was currently trying to look anywhere else but Paul and Cassie, a huge stupid smile on his face. Paul raised an eyebrow at the younger wolf and Collin just grinned at him happily as Cassie's soft breath once more distracted him. This time when they broke off Collin had disappeared too, to give them privacy. Embry was sticking it out, but then again he would stick out Leah having sex with a midget on the hood of this baby as long as he kept getting to work with it.

"I'm thinking I like La Push," Cassie hummed and then she jerked when a loud howl pierced the quietness. She looked at Paul in surprise. "Was that-?"

"That was Sam reminding me to stop playing with you and get moving," Paul grunted, hooking his arm around her waist and dragging her off the car. "Sorry Cass, but it's only a partial patrol I promised to run for him so he could go to a doctor's appointment with Emily. I shouldn't be more than an hour and a half, and you'll hopefully be asleep when I run later tonight."

"It's cool," she shrugged. "I have Stephen King. Who doesn't like reading twenty pages describing how brown a tree is? I probably won't even notice you're gone, wolf boy," she teased and he ran his fingers through her hair, quirking a smile at her. Then he turned to the other wolf.

"Emb, I have to run patrol soon," Paul said abruptly and Embry immediately stiffened. Then he sighed and hoisted himself out from under the car.

"Yeah. I get it," he muttered unhappily. "I got the oil pan in and added fresh oil, so it's more drivable, but I wouldn't let her go all the way to Seattle yet. Cullen trashed the undercarriage more than we'd thought. I can come back later when the guys get done raiding Sue's fridge."

Paul ignored that and turned to Cassie, his face serious. "Okay, here's the deal. I'm leaving you here with Embry so he can keep working on your car. I know you get bored and I know you like to flirt, but you can't mess with him. Not at all. He looks nice, but Emb's one of the scariest fuc—scariest _guys_ we have on the Pack when he's pissed, so you're _going_ to behave yourself. If something happens, do exactly what he says no matter what. Leeches have broken the borders, Cass. It's important." At her suddenly dismayed expression, probably from remembering how scared she'd been the previous night, Paul gave her little smile. "Plus his girlfriend is a skilled enough martial artist to turn you into a miniature pretzel if she felt like it, so no trying to seduce Embry the second I leave. Got it?"

"You left me more loopholes in there than you should have, Paul," Cassie smirked, and he growled, pressing her back into the car and kissing her thoroughly before pulling away.

"Be good, Cass," he ordered her and even though she was obviously amused with him, Cassie nodded acquiescence. Then Paul turned to Embry, who looked a mixture of surprised and pleased. Paul kicked him none too lightly to get his attention, and when Embry stopped wincing, Paul pointed at Cassie. "She's the only one I will _ever_ get. So don't fuck up, or I'll eat you. Literally."

"Of course, man," Embry murmured, and Paul nodded.

"Good." With that he padded off towards the woods, leaving the two alone. Embry looked at Cassie. Cassie looked at Embry. The car looked at its parts strewn out around it, not feeling particularly encouraged and thinking it had deserved more out of life.

Embry coughed a touch awkwardly. "I'm not really _that_ scary," he told her in hopes to put her at ease as he scooted back underneath the vehicle. "Paul's actually the scary one and you seem to have him pretty well handled."

"My guess is that if I had Paul handled, I would probably be off entertaining myself in other fashions," she chuckled, and on a whim Cassie crawled underneath the car as well. It was very…car like. Embry was working on realigning something black. That was as far as she'd figured it out, although Cassie could tell he was trying really hard not to tug too hard and break it.

"So…" Embry said uncomfortably as Cassie poked at something greasy above her face.

"So am I a master mechanic? No, but I'm sure you can teach me," Cassie decided, and she grinned over at Embry. He chuckled, and she noticed that he had very pretty chocolate colored eyes. She liked Paul's better and preferred the more rugged handsomeness of Paul to the slightly more refined attractiveness of Embry, but she couldn't blame this Sims girl for liking him.

"Well Cassie, this is a car," he teased her, seeming to be more relaxed now. "A very nice car that you have treated very badly, and I'm thinking we should downgrade you into a station wagon until you can learn to appreciate it."

"To be honest, I kind of wish Mr. Cullen had broken it more so I could get rid of it. I feel kind of stupid when I drive badly just because I can't reach the pedals. Maybe Mr. Cullen would scare me again if I asked nicely, although I still might scream and run away, which could be a tad offensive."

"You don't have to be that polite about the leeches," Embry told her, grumbling quietly. "They're our allies, but they're still leeches. Screaming and running away are appropriate reactions, even though Sims hasn't figured it out yet. She tried to take a baseball bat to one."

"That's really cool."

"That's really stupid and she could have died," Embry disagreed and Cassie laughed.

"Nope. You're wrong. I can't even hit a baseball with a baseball bat, let alone a vampire. That's really cool. Maybe she and I can run back up leech detail, offing the stragglers behind the front wave. That's good military strategy."

"Cass, honey, you and Sims in your car with sticks is not military strategy. It's horrible awfulness that will never happen ever. Can you hand me the crescent wrench?"

"The shiny silver thingy or the shiny silver adjustable thingy?"

"The adjustable one," he told her, and then laughed. "Wow, you really are a girl, Cass. That's probably good for Paul, he dated tom girls more often than not just to make life easier on himself. I think you'll be a good change for him."

"Hmm. We're not dating though," Cassie said pleasantly. "He doesn't want me." At her words, Embry frowned.

"Don't worry Cass, it's not-" Embry started but she stopped him by touching his shoulder lightly.

"I wasn't going for sympathy or reassurance, Embry," she told him with a little smile. "Although it's a nice offer. The truth is that Paul doesn't want me yet, but he might later. He might change his mind. It's okay if he doesn't because I like him how he is, no changes required. I'm still dating other people, so it's not like I'm wasting my time waiting around for him. It's all okay."

Embry was quiet for a moment, and then he nodded.

"Yeah, Paul's a good guy. I'd trust him with my life. All the guys really, and Quil and Jake especially. Non-adjustable thingy, please." She handed it over, and replaced the adjustable thingy next to them. "So," Embry asked curiously, throwing Cassie a white toothed smile. "Do you really date women?"

"Nope," Cassie chirped brightly. "I just have sex with them. So how hot is Sims and do you think she'd be interested? I don't mind first timers."

Embry sat up so fast that he smashed his face into the front axle, the movement having enough strength behind it that it dislodged the car off the cinderblocks. Embry cursed and rolled, covering Cassie as the car smashed to the ground on top of them. The improvised oil pan cracked open over Embry's head, pouring brand new oil all over both of them as thirty three hundred pounds of car pressed down on Embry's back. Cassie stared at him in surprise, thinking it was awfully nice that none of that was pressing down on her at all.

A wolf howled, and then someone was jerking the car off the ground and off them with another crashing noise. It was Paul, looking both horrified and relieved as he snatched up Cassie, holding her tightly as he examined her for injuries even though she didn't have a scratch on her. A very dismayed and oil drenched Embry was getting helped to his feet by a shirtless and barefoot Quil, and both of them stared at the car in horror. It was now tipped over on its side.

"Opps," Cassie murmured as Paul let go of her and rounded on Embry.

"What the _fuck_, Embry?" Paul snarled, but Cassie grabbed his arm.

"It wasn't him, it was me, Paul," she informed him. "You told me to behave, and I'm the one who started talking about doing his girlfriend. It's not Embry's fault." When Paul continued growling at Embry, Cassie slid in front of him and swatted him squarely on the nose. Paul blinked and looked down at her.

"Dude, did she just smack him like a puppy?" Quil snickered behind them as Paul's growl turned a little strangled.

"Oh hush," Cassie told him dismissively. "You're so grumpy."

"He dropped a car on you!" Paul told her in disbelief.

"And you guys picked it back up. I fail to see the problem." And because she must have loved to rile Paul up as much as he loved to do it to her, Cassie gave Embry a flirty smile. "I have to admit Embry, that was a very romantic saving. The rolling and the bracing was very sexy, and if I hadn't been concerned for your wellbeing, I might have enjoyed being beneath your sweaty straining body for even longer. Have you ever considered-?"

No one knew what Cassie was about to propose, because Paul took the opportunity to snatch her up over his shoulder and drag her off to the cabin. At first she had seemed pleased, but when she realized what Paul's intentions were, Cassie became a very unwilling participant.

Really, who actually kept people prisoners these days?

Paul hadn't really expected locking Cassie in his home and barricading the door with Brady to feel that good, but it had been a much more enjoyable experience than he would have guessed. When Cassie realized that Paul had actually locked her in, she started screaming threats in Russian that left Brady's sensitive ears ringing and the other wolves not quite sure what they should do. Paul just smiled and headed back to the woods, finishing his patrol for Sam. An hour later Paul returned and quite happily went back to work with the others, seeming completely unaffected by the still randomly snarling imprint in the cabin.

"She's still going? I thought she'd have worked herself out by now," Paul said, settling himself in the grass. He raised his voice loudly enough for her to hear through the cabin's thin walls. "Cass kind of sounds like a banshee when she's angry, huh?"

There was a moment of silence, followed by a barrage of furious Russian, all directed at Paul.

"Wow, she's really vocal, isn't she?" Quil at one point asked when she kept going and Paul flashed him a grin.

"Yep," Paul agreed. "And I love it when she does that. I know she's probably cursing at me, but those throaty sounding words are fucking sexy. I piss her off just to hear it."

"You imprisoned her," Collin seemed a little disturbed by this, and Paul just grinned even bigger.

"No, I didn't. She can get through the bathroom window, and I bet she knows it too. She's having fun, leave her alone."

"That's your imprint having fun?" Quil shook his head in horror after she had paused for breath. "She sounds furious."

"Yes, but furious is not bored," Paul said. "And my imprint is a very very bored woman, who appreciates it when her man tries to keep her entertained. Right, Cass? This is you appreciating me?"

"I'm switching sides, Paul!" Cassie yelled in English, giving the door behind Brady a solid thump. "Screw you werewolves!"

"I thought we were keeping things platonic, Cass?" Paul called back. "Really, is sex all you ever think about?" It set her off again, and as she shrieked, Paul relaxed back against the grass, gazing up at the sky. "You know guys, I think I could grow used to this whole imprinting thing."

The Pack went still and then they all turned and stared at Paul. Suddenly Jared laughed and threw a lug wrench at Paul's head. "You dumbass, you're so horrible with women. Why don't you just tell her 'tag you're it' and chase her around the playground? Everyone but her knows you're already retarded over her."

Something else hit the door, but it was hard to tell what with all the screaming. Paul closed his eyes contentedly, ignoring Jared's comment. "She's cute, isn't she? Like a little expensive Pomeranian. My pet imprint."

"Paul's lost it."

"Paul's in love."

"Dude, Paul locked his imprint in his house. He's a felony kidnapper."

Paul just smiled, because he knew he was certainly _something_. He'd get it figured out eventually.

* * *

Ksanochka had never come home.

The sun was slipping into the horizon and the day was ending, and the man was still sitting on the dining room table. Thirteen messages from four friends, two lovers, and one mother, and not a single one had said where she had gone. Maybe he could have tracked her down through alternative means, but there was no reason to quite yet. He was a man of instincts, and he still believed that she would come back eventually. She knew better than to stay away too long. Ksanochka's instincts were even better than his own, when she didn't numb them away completely, and her coping mechanisms were all still safely tucked away in her bathroom cabinet drawers. She would come back. She would come back or he would go find her, but either way she would be located. Interested parties didn't pay him this much money just to have her slip away like a ghost.

He'd give her until tomorrow and then he'd…expand his options. Nodding to himself, the man continued to patiently sit, fingering the cool metal against his hand.

* * *

So Cassie wasn't particularly happy about being locked away for most of the day, but she could understand that like this she was not likely to cause anyone to have a car dropped on them. Still Paul was lucky, because Cassie knew people, and said people would have brought in heavy artillery to bust her out of here, so Paul should thank his lucky stars that his cabin didn't get turned into the OK Corral. Yes, he certainly should.

In Paul's defense, he made it up to her. As soon as they determined that some non-improviseable parts were going to _have_ to be ordered and nothing was getting finished tonight, Paul and Jared and Sam had taken the imprints out. It had been fun seeing where Paul worked and meeting the people that mattered to him. The tribal chief, Billy Black, had been an utter sweetheart, telling her repeatedly how pleased they were that another wolf had imprinted. Seth's mother, another Council member had been equally sweet if a bit distracted, and Old Quil had finally loosened up when Cassie spent fifteen minutes trying and finally succeeding in convincing the old man to take a shot with her.

The bar had filled up sufficiently that they couldn't discuss the Pack, but Cassie had a great time with Emily and Kim, especially after Kim started challenging Cassie to go head to head slamming down shots. For a sweet girl, Kim could _drink_, and Paul and Jared ended up laying bets on which girl ended up laid out first. Emily tried to hang, but after her fourth beer she started getting tipsy enough to start returning Cassie's flirtatious comments. Sam grew more and more uncomfortable with it until he finally grabbed up Emily and declared he was taking his woman home and Cassie was going to have to find someone else to bed that night. He had kicked Paul's chair out from under him pointedly, and Kim had spent ten minutes laughing at Paul because of it. Cassie was vaguely aware of the other Pack members joining the fun in rotations, but her last clear memory was of snuggling up on a laughing Billy Black's lap and telling him he was her favorite chief _ever_. It was a good night.

She came to upside down. She had been awfully drunk when they'd finally left the bar but she'd had a bit of time to sober up on the walk home, probably because it was a very pleasant evening and Paul was taking his time. The huge man had slung her tipsy self over one broad shoulder and he was ambling along through the woods, one large hand rested on her hip to steady her and humming quietly to himself. She smiled against his back, thinking that three weeks ago if someone had said a wolf would be lugging her around caveman style through the Pacific Northwest, she would have said they were crazy. She wondered if she was lucky that this might be the new norm.

"Paul?" she slurred drunkenly, tapping his rear end to get his attention.

"Hmmm?"

"M'sorry 'bout the car."

He chuckled and patted her own rear end in kind. "Don't be sorry for being you, Cass, it makes my life more interesting. Much harder and much more aggravating, but much more interesting."

"Gonna change your mind."

Paul slowed and his hand squeezed her a little harder into his shoulder. "I don't think I have that option, Cass, you know better than that."

"Humpty dumpty thought he knew better too," Cassie mumbled quietly, "but when that poor sucker fell, he was straight outta luck. And when all the king's horses and all the king's men ran out of smack and duct tape, humpty dumpty had to find another fairy tale. And little red got ate up by the big bad wolf even though she knew better too. Was better when all I had to do was dance."

The world tipped and Cassie found herself right side up, her back to a huge sycamore tree. Paul had his arm braced around her supportively, but after a moment of staring into her eyes, he eased her gently to the ground in a sitting position. He stepped back and after leaving ten feet of space between them, Paul very deliberately stripped off his shirt.

"No, Paul," Cassie shook her head, slurring softly as he unbuttoned his jeans. "Don't you get it? You get to get out of jail free, Paul. You don't have to pass go, there's nothing left on free parking anyways."

He wasn't listening, or maybe he was and just didn't understand, because even if caramel broke hazel and morning light was better than darkness, there still wasn't enough red in the world to wrap her back up. And then he was completely naked, standing before her and Cassie closed her eyes, because he had modesty even if she didn't, even if little bo peep had been traded for more sheep, and what the hell did it matter anymore anyway?

Cassie reached to pull her shirt off.

There was a crack, like bones breaking, and a cold wet nose touched her hand, stopping her. Cassie opened her eyes and thought that maybe she should close them again, but she didn't have to. He was a wolf. She was an imprint and he was a wolf. She wasn't a fool and he wasn't a liar, and if he asked her nicely, she might stay here with him forever. The wolf snuffed softly at her throat, whining softly before laying down with infinite care, his head on her lap and his nose against her stomach. Cassie twisted her fingers through his fur and rested her nose against his ear, murmuring her thanks in her native tongue. The wolf didn't understand, but as he quietly watched over her, he didn't have to.

Cassie had no way of explaining that his heated breath on her skin was burning her clean.


	9. Chapter 8

A/N I got lots of reviews this chapter, which was great! Thanks to: _The bunny always dies first, Manna 1, EnglishVoice, pinkshirt, Kelli83, KimThePirate, LightIsPrecious, mcc3654, Ashes-Of-Grey, Buffyk0604, MadToTheBone1, SugerSweetCutie, hilja, Jacobleah, KerryH, PinkAzn, twiceasbold, ally leigh, _and_ Sunshine4stars_ for the feedback. So this should be a happy chapter for you guys…or not. lol. Okay, let's be honest. It's chalk full of angst, and for those who still haven't read Book One, you'll be missing half of the plot points. But there's ice cream! And Paul is naked for a scene. That makes up for the drama, right? Maybe? Kind of? Hopefully?

Paul: (wrings out chapter and glares in annoyance at growing puddle of drama)

Rico: (coughs uncomfortably) Hey! I know what can lighten the tension! So a werewolf, a vampire, and a jack rabbit walk into a Hooter's Bar, and this waitress…

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Eight

Blood dripped down Hla'o's fangs.

The wolfborn was tired, a state that it wasn't used to, because rarely did the Alpha ever push them to their limits the way that two weeks of constant playing with Calgary had pushed them. Something about taming the cub before unleashing the lion. Hla'o had met a lion before in a zoo and he hadn't been particularly impressed with it. Wihl had liked its teeth and had tried to take them, but Tupkuk had wanted to go fishing instead. Wihl had liked that too, although hunting with a hook was much more boring than hunting with teeth. Hla'o liked most things, but killing was high on that list and it was difficult to do as the Alpha asked.

Hla'o had ten wolves surrounding him, keeping pace with the tired wolfborn's strides, all trying to kill _him_. It wasn't fair that he wasn't allowed to kill even _one_ of them.

Wihl thought that if Hla'o paid more attention to tag then he paid attention to teeth, then he would be 'it' like Wihl was. Hla'o had grown tired of tag days ago, and there wasn't a wolf in Calgary besides their Alpha that he hadn't sank his teeth into yet, anyway. Maybe they could change games? One of the Calgary wolves had an imprint, perhaps they could play capture the flag instead?

Wihl twisted to the left and hamstringed the wolf he was chasing, his own muzzled bloodied and no longer 'it'. Wihl liked capture the flag…Alpha?

Tupkuk didn't mind how hard they played with the other wolves, but if they wanted to play with an imprint, then they needed to use their inside behavior. No maiming or killing, and _definitely_ no juggling this time. Females didn't like that. Usually…

Pleased, Hla'o darted through the trees, thinking that he should draw the wolves further south. After all the Cold Ones down there liked to play, as long as they were picked first and not last, and Tupkuk hadn't said anything about letting others kill while Hla'o got to watch. Then he could head back around and get the imprint. Wihl was further away but he thought he could get her first. Hla'o would try to beat him.

Did the Alpha want to be on their teams or be on his own? Tupkuk didn't care, just pick a side for him. Hla'o called the Alpha. Suck up, Hla'o _always_ called the Alpha. If it was close, would the Alpha declare the winner so they wouldn't have to fight for her? Yes, if they promised not to damage the imprint. They promised with no take backs, so their Alpha decided that was fine. Now hush. The Calgary Alpha was trying to kill him.

They hushed. After all, it was always possible that the Calgary Alpha could.

* * *

"Hey, Paul?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember that movie where these nice guys go out into the woods, and at first it's pretty, but then it's creepy and the locals do all sorts of violent unspeakable things to them while banjoes play in the background?"

"Vaguely."

"Well, at this point, I think all we're missing is the banjoes."'

From where she was walking up the path a few feet away from Paul, Cassie smiled back over her shoulder and tossed him a wink. Paul rolled his eyes and quickened his pace just enough that he caught up to his imprint. He swatted Cassie firmly on the rump, although he was back to being several feet behind her when she was done yelping and jumping and had turned around with a familiar glare. The tiny blonde rubbed her rear end and gave him a dirty look, while Paul feigned innocence.

He had been doing this most of the hike up the cliffs, occupying himself and his imprint. She had been more sore today, spending most of the afternoon laid up on Embry's dojo couch and reading while Paul worked the lunch shift and Embry worked on finishing the car between classes. Paul knew the walk was hard on her legs and she didn't want to be a wuss and get carried, so he was finding little ways of distracting her from the climb. Pinching her sides and swatting her butt had been the most satisfying so far, although the five minutes he had spent sneaking live critters into her pockets had been fun too. Now that they were on the more dangerous part of the climb, he didn't want her jumping up and down quite as much, even though it was amusing to watch.

"Okay, I _know_ that was you this time, Paul," she told him with a little growl. "I saw you. And I don't care how many times you try to blame the ancestors."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Cass. Of course it wasn't the ancestors, that was the wolf, and he's just trying to get to know you better," Paul told her sweetly. "You could try and be a little more understanding."

"Ah, the old blame it on the inner split personality bit. I see how you are, mister," Cassie nodded as she turned around and continued to walk up the gradually steepening path. "Well, I for one am much too clever to fall for your shiftiness, so beware Paul Coho, beware the wrath of the bruised butted imprint."

There wasn't much he could say to that so Paul scooted forward and did it again, this time with enough reverb to make her little rear end jiggle when she jumped and yipped, and he grinned devilishly at her.

"Seth!" Cassie cried up to the front of the line of wolves and imprints, starting to sound a little plaintive as she was back to rubbing her backside. "I'm being abused by Paul. Can I change wolves?"

"Have you finished your thirty days trial membership yet?" Seth called back, his voice carrying over Kim and Jared, who were between them. Jared looked back over his shoulder and smirked at Paul, stealing Paul's idea and getting whacked across the forehead for his efforts by a ready Kim.

"No, I'm a few days shy," Cassie sighed, glancing down at the ocean a good hundred feet below them off the far side of the trail and wisely scooting towards the inside of the path.

"Sorry, Little Bit," Seth replied in a cheerful voice. "You've gotta stick it out. If it helps, I can order Paul not to grunt for the rest of the night. It'll mean that he'll make all these weird guttural noises trying to stop himself."

"Traitor," Paul muttered to Jared, who was directly in front of Cassie.

They had staggered the imprints between wolves as they climbed the roughest part of the trail, just on the off chance someone repeated the Claire Dive of '09, where a particularly interesting butterfly sent the littlest imprint darting for the cliff edge and a panicked Emily scrambling after her as the little girl slipped. The guys had been horsing around much too far up the trail, and Quil had been lucky that Sam had grabbed for both imprints instead of following his instincts and lunging for just his own. Sam had been lucky that Quil had grabbed his leg before all three went over the side. Little Claire had proudly displayed the butterfly in her hand when they had hauled everyone back up, and as she babbled happily to Quil about why she loved butterflies, Quil had pressed his nose against the top of her head and silently cried.

Claire now got piggyback rides up to the bonfire site whether she wanted to or not, and the rest of the imprints were always within a hand's swat away. Obviously.

The trail turned into the woods again, and Cassie paused at the bend, gazing out into the ocean. The wind was blowing her piecey hair into her eyes, and she pushed it back absently with one hand as Paul stopped alongside her.

"It's really beautiful up here," Cassie murmured to him and Paul nodded agreement. His imprint exhaled, a small peaceful sound, and she stepped closer to the edge. Paul was fine with that, as long as his arms were wrapped securely around her, and Cassie leaned back into his chest when he did. A smile touched her face as she breathed in the smell of saltwater and pine trees, captivated by how the slowly sinking sun sent ripples of red and orange across the deep blue waters of the Pacific.

"It's a long drop," Cassie added as Paul shifted so she could scoot to the very edge. He slid his hands to her waist, and as Cassie leaned over to see the white foaming water washing over the boulders below, he very carefully gripped her hips and lifted her off the ground. Cassie gasped as Paul took a single step forward, her hands clutching his forearms as she realized she was dangling over a cliff, but then she relaxed and tucked her feet up, peering down at an angle few people every got to see. Paul kept her there until she sighed contentedly and nodded her head. Paul backed up and set her lightly to her feet, his arms once more wrapped securely around her. The wolf hadn't liked what Paul had done, but it liked how happy Cassie smelled, and it liked the feel of her against them. Paul pressed his nose against his imprint's hair and snuffed with equal contentment.

"Paul?"

"Hmm?"

"If I closed my eyes and fell backwards, would you catch me?" Cassie asked, her voice quiet and for once serious. Paul nuzzled her temple, pressing a brief kiss to the little diamond encrusted hoop Cassie wore in the rim of her ear.

"Of course. You're my imprint, you should know that already."

"But Paul? If you closed your eyes and fell backwards," she wondered softly, "Would you trust me to catch _you_?"

Paul tilted his head to the side at that one. "I'm too heavy for you to catch, Cass," he rumbled in mild amusement. "You'd drop me."

She smiled, a slight curving of her lips, although his instincts said that hadn't been the answer she had been looking for. "Then who _would_ you trust to catch you?" Cassie wanted to know. It seemed an important question to her, so he tried to consider his answer before speaking it.

"The guys, I guess. Jake and Seth. Sam and Jared, any of them really. Why do you ask?" he wanted to know, but Cassie just shrugged. Paul bent and rested his chin on the top of her head, repeating himself softly. "Why do you ask, Cass?"

"Because I think that it would be nice if when you fell, you knew I would catch you too." The thought seemed to please her, and she lifted her face and went up on her toes, kissing the very bottom of his chin. "I don't think you weigh nearly as much as you think you do, Paul."

Cassie dropped back down to her feet and Paul brushed her hair away from her neck, kissing her still bruised skin lightly. "It's a nice sentiment and I understand what you're really trying to say, but I _don't_ fall, Cass. I can't remember ever falling. I stumbled around a bit, right after I first phased, because I have a hard time with changes to myself that I can't control. I was angry at losing that autonomy in my life, but it's better now that I'm used to how things are. I don't fall, I catch others."

"Ahh, the mighty oak tree, dwarfing the lowly sprouts beneath its branches," Cassie teased, returning to her normal lightness of tone. "Be careful, Paul. Don't crack in half under the weight of your own mightiness, or you may end up a stubby stump and I don't go for short guys."

Paul chuckled and grabbed her hand, pulling her along the path the others had disappeared down. "Cass, you go for _all_ guys, that is very apparent," he teased back as they climbed. "So, try to behave yourself somewhat tonight. This is an important custom, the retelling of our tribal legends, ones that apply very much to you. I don't need you commenting on how hot Taha Aki used to be or the wonders of polygamy."

"Polygamy?" she arched a sculpted eyebrow curiously.

"Forget I mentioned that," he muttered. "Anyway, be good tonight, please, for me. Manners and all that. I'll buy you ice cream later if you behave."

"Paul?" Cassie said with an abundance of mock snootiness in her voice. "I've been trained to recognize the difference between a thin broth spoon and a cream soup spoon. I know exactly what angle to cross my legs at, how high to lift my chin in polite society, and exactly when a woman of means is or is not expected to have an opinion. I could tell you what courses should come in what order in a full twenty-one course meal, what heel length is appropriate to wear in every social situation, and in five minutes of being in a room of strangers I could tell you who exactly who I am required to be submissive to and who will be fetching my things at the end of the night. And despite the horribleness of all that knowledge, I do upon occasion use it to properly conduct myself in public. But yes, you may buy me ice cream later." Then she stuck her tongue out at him. Paul ducked his head a little sheepishly.

"Sorry," Paul said, squeezing her hand. "That was rude of me."

"It's okay, I realize you haven't been given many opportunities to see the behaved side of me. Speaking of which, my friend Garritt was horrible offended by my absence at his last party, and when I blamed you, he decided to add you to his next guest list. So we'll be in Vancouver next month, in case you need help knowing how to cross your legs, because everyone else will expect you to know how. Which I would suggest you do for your own protection anyways, because I texted Garritt a picture of you, and his reaction was something along the lines of a mrrowing noise. You might actually be his screen saver right now."

"You're shitting me," Paul stared at her in horror and Cassie grinned up at him impishly.

"It was a good picture," she reassured him brightly. "The one where you were patching up that hole in my bathroom you made, and you were all shirtless and sweaty and there was the grout. Garritt especially liked the grout. He owes me a hundred dollars, by the way, I don't just pass around steamy pictures of you for free. I told him not to put you on his website, but if you do end up there, I'll get him to take you down."

"You're whoring me out to your male friends?" Paul shook his head, groaning. "Really, Cass?"

"Maybe. Maybe not," she teased, patting his arm soothingly. "I suppose you'll have to come to Vancouver with me and see. If Garritt's new boy toy tries to clock you, then you'll know for sure."

"Gosh, I think I'm busy next month," Paul drawled as the trail ended at the summit of the cliffs, an ancient spot they held some of their Pack meetings at. "Very very busy. Oh look, here's the guys and the imprints too, none of which have me as their screen savers," Paul muttered as he tugged Cassie towards the Pack.

"Oh. Was that not an appropriate thing to do?" Collin asked in pretend distress from his place by the growing woodpile, and he batted his lashes at Paul, who smacked him in the face as they walked past.

"He heard?" Cassie asked in surprise, look at the gathered wolves. Everyone but Quil, Brady, and Embry were there, although Embry should be showing up soon.

The majority of the Pack replied in tandem, "We always hear."

Leah added with a smirk, "We also see, too, Cassie. You'd be pleased to know that while Kim still has the votes for the best rack and Sims for the best ass, the guys have determined yours as the best nakedness in general. As per usual, I have abstained, but you do know you don't have to wax _everything_, right? Paul is a wolf, after all, he's used to a little hair."

Paul choked and Cassie looked at Leah in shock. Suddenly Cassie's face lit up like she'd been given a Christmas present, and she took a step towards the she-wolf. "Well, why don't we talk about that for awhile—omph! Paul, come on! Put me down! You won't sleep with me, so really, what do you care?"

"Be careful, Leels," Seth whispered to Leah, who was laughing as Paul held Cassie off the ground by one muscled arm around her waist, ignoring her as he went to help Jared throw more wood on the pile. "She might try and rape you."

"She started it, Paul! God, you're such a jerk sometimes, put me down!

"Naw, I like you like this," Paul decided, throwing a wink at Emily, who was giggling as she stood tucked up to Sam's side. "A yappy little accessory."

"Yappy? _Yappy_?"

"Point to Paul," Leah decided, "That was rather yappish. Hey, where's everyone? I thought we were going to try and get this thing started?"

Everyone was the elders, who no longer made the ritual climb on the trail their ancestors had always taken, based on Billy's inability to do so. Even as Leah spoke, Paul caught the faintest sounds of the rumble of Billy's truck driving along the alternate path. He set Cassie down on her feet, ran his fingers through her tousled hair to smooth it back in place, and then gently propelled her towards where Kim and Emily had sat on a couple logs. Claire wasn't going to be there, because her parents were only just starting to believe they could trust the Pack with her again after her attack, so it was just the three girls.

Well, that was until Embry and Sims came walking out of the woods.

Embry gave them all a friendly hello, and Sims echoed it in her quiet reserved way, her hand tucked into Embry's as he led her towards the bonfire that Jared had just lit. Paul was dumbstruck, not saying a thing as Embry ambled up to them, Sims in tow.

"They're not here yet, huh?" Embry noted, wrapping his arm around Sims's collarbone and tugging her closer to his side. "That's good, I was worried we'd be late."

"You're a fucking idiot, Embry," Leah said heatedly while glaring at him, but as Embry glared back, Sims only chuckled.

"Hello to you, too, Leah," Sims joked, but then she seemed to realize that the Pack had gone very quiet. She was a smart girl, and Paul watched her eyes sweep over the assembled imprints and wolves, and then she sighed. "I knew this was a bad idea," she muttered under her breath as Billy's truck pulled up and all the elders climbed out. Sue and Billy shared a look as Sam helped Billy settle into his wheelchair, but Old Quil focused in on Sims immediately.

"Embry," Old Quil spoke authoritatively in his dry dusty voice. "This meeting is for elders and Pack only."

Embry went still.

"You're kidding, right?" Embry glanced over at Billy, who seemed unhappy, and then at Seth. Seth's face had grown expressionless, the way it did when he was trying to decide which side he stood on an issue. "She already knows everything. What does it matter? Jake brought Bella to these, and she wasn't Pack."

Sue gave Sims a motherly look before turning to the other elders. "Quil, the boy's got a point. What could it hurt?"

"Sue…" Billy sighed, and Old Quil straightened.

"Carter's daughter isn't welcome, for obvious reasons," Old Quil stated quietly. "So take her home and return quickly, Embry. It isn't seemly that we should have to wait for you."

"For _what_ obvious reasons?" Embry demanded, his voice dropping into a deep growl. Sims was tugging on his hand, whispering that it was fine and they should go, but her cheeks had reddened in embarrassment and the scent of shame reached Paul's nostrils.

Now for the record, Paul loved Embry. They were brothers and they were Pack, and there were a lot of better ways that Old Quil could have said that. But Paul was looking directly at Embry as the younger wolf realized the hurt that had just been given to his girl, and when Embry's eyes slid from their normal chocolate to almost black, Paul was between him and the imprints before Emb could blink. Jared and Sam's reactions were the same, and Embry gave them a hurt look when he realized that the Pack was positioning themselves to protect the imprints from _him_. Embry's hand gripped Sims's tighter.

"Son, please, it's not personal," Billy said quietly, wheeling closer until Seth shifted, placing himself slightly between the two. Embry looked at Seth as if he had hit him, but Seth's face was still expressionless.

"You're throwing my girl out, but it's not personal?" Embry was trembling now, and if he wasn't between the threat and his imprint, Paul would have tried to pull Sims away from Embry. If he phased holding her hand, she'd end up worse than Emily had been. Sam seemed to realize this, and his voice was very deliberately calm as he spoke to Embry.

"Embry, you can't phase," Sam said, his words powerful enough that they pressed down on Paul's shoulders. "You'll hurt Samantha the way I hurt Emily. Let go of her and let her come over here."

"Embry, it doesn't matter," Sims was whispering to him, trying to rub his arm soothingly, but Embry was going from offended to livid and there was no stopping him. "I know I'm not Pack, I know I don't belong here. It's fine, I'm kind of over this anyway. Let's just go home, we can watch a movie or something, okay?"

"He must return, Samantha, but you need to go," Old Quil decided. "All wolves not patrolling must attend the telling of the histories. This custom is an important part of our tribe, and one that cannot be ignored or disrespected."

"The hell she will!" Embry countered furiously. "If she leaves, I stay gone too."

"Seth, if Embry will not remove Samantha and return as he should, have someone else do it for him."

The snarl that echoed out of Embry's mouth told exactly what he thought about that idea. No one was going to be stupid enough to try and follow that order. Well, no one but Leah. The she-wolf ignored Embry's noises and walked right up to him and Sims.

"Embry, calm down," Leah snapped, looking annoyed. "You knew this might happen, so why you'd be a big enough asshole to drag her here is beyond me. It's your fault she's humiliated. Now let her go, because if you phase holding onto Samantha, I'm gonna pull your goddamn guts out with nothing but my thumb and pinkie finger. _Let her go_."

The enraged wolf didn't let go and Leah actually smiled. Then she calmly slugged Embry in the face, so hard that they all heard something crack, and as he staggered back Leah jerked his hand off of Sims and put herself in between them, backing up so that Samantha was forced away from Embry.

"Leah-"

"Shut up, Samantha," Leah snapped and Sims wisely did what she was told. Paul grimaced when he saw that Sims looked close to tears, although none of them had ever seen her cry, not even with the leech had messed her up so badly. She did however put her hand on Leah's back, as if asking Leah for something. Embry was holding his jaw, cursing, and Paul could tell this was about to escalate even further. He was trying to decide what to do when he heard Cassie's voice behind him.

"Paul? Paul, this isn't right."

Yeah, he knew that.

"Paul, this isn't _right_," Cassie repeated, not bothering to keep her voice down. "If she already knows about everything, why shouldn't she stay?"

"Cass, not now," Paul growled as Embry's attention was drawn towards his imprint. Paul stiffened his shoulders, meeting the other wolf's gaze and placing himself even more squarely in front of her.

"_Yes_ now. Paul, Embry spent the last two days fixing my car! He's been a sweetheart. He let me put gum on his nose for goodness sakes, and you're all acting like he's going to attack us! Don't be mad at him because Old Quil's treating Sims like dirt."

"Cass," Paul growled warningly, but she wasn't listening.

"Paul, do something, this isn't right." Do what? What could he do when Seth was just standing there, when he wasn't telling them what side they were on? Seth glanced at Paul, and Paul could tell Seth was waiting for him to decide for himself. Seth raised an eyebrow almost challengingly at him. "Paul, _do something_," Cassie hissed. "Or _I will_."

_Fuck_. Fucking imprinting. Fucking imprints who were fucking right. It killed him to do what he was about to do, but Paul finally took a step away from his imprint and left her in Embry's direct line of sight, Embry's direct line of attack, and instead of protecting her Paul walked over and stood next to Embry. If a line was being drawn, this was the side Paul was picking, because Paul thought this was wrong just as much as Cassie did. And it pissed him the hell off, because he shouldn't have to leave his imprint open like this for Embry, Embry should know better and the Council should too. The faintest hint of a smile touched Seth's lips but was instantly gone, his face once more expressionless.

"She's right, Jared," Kim spoke up, sharing a glance with Emily, "You guys are being jerks."

"You'd be upset too if they were treating us like this," Emily whispered softly to Jared and Sam.

Jared may or may not have agreed, but he wasn't moving. Sam however gave Seth a distressed look, but he too moved, joining Paul at Embry's side. Embry still looked furious, but at having the two more dominant wolves at his back, his trembling slowed. Leah kept Sims back, but she angled her body towards Embry, a sign of support.

It was Collin however who diffused the situation. He walked straight in between Embry and the elders, and then he plopped down to the ground, crossing his legs and leaning back on his hands with his back to Embry. Utterly defenseless to an attack from behind, Collin yawned loudly and scratched his stomach.

"So," he said lazily, while rolling his head to the side and cracking his neck. "We gonna do this thing or what? If not, then there's a margarita party in Forks at Ashlee Davies' house, and I have it on good authority that she thinks I'm hot. Which I am, but tequila always makes me just a little hotter." Paul didn't know whether to kick him or to hug him, but one thing was for sure, Paul would make sure as hell an attack never reached him.

The Pack had decided, and as one they looked at Seth. The Beta sighed, rubbing his temples and giving Old Quil a tired look.

"She's not going to betray us," Seth told the elders softly, so softly that there was no way for Sims to have heard. Sue nodded in agreement, Billy looked as tired as Seth did, but Old Quil's face tightened.

"No," he said in his dusty voice. "This is a direct order from the Council, Seth. Carter's daughter needs to leave, and then we will resume the meeting."

Seth glanced at Billy, who seemed pained but he too nodded his head. Sue glared at both of them, but she was out of the majority, and Seth gave his mother an understanding smile. Sue was often out of the majority, no matter how much weight her son pulled on the Council.

"A direct order, Billy?" Seth repeated, not willing to do this unless forced and Billy murmured yes. Embry let out a strangled growl, looking completely betrayed as he stared at Billy.

The elder wouldn't meet his eyes, but he did whisper, "I'm sorry, son. But you shouldn't have brought her and you knew that."

Seth sighed again. "I'm sorry too, Embry. Take her home. You don't have to come back if you don't want to." Embry's teeth ground together and he let out an angry snarl, but then he turned and grabbed Sims's hand, hauling her away from Leah and back into the woods. They could hear her still trying to convince him that everything was okay until their voices faded away.

"Seth, that's not-" Old Quil started to say, but Seth rounded on the elder and his usually pleasant expression was cold. Somewhere off in the forest there came a huge cracking noise, like a tree falling, and then another. Embry wasn't phased, but he was taking out his anger on the local tree population. Paul wondered if one of them should go watch out for Sims, but Leah was already gone, her loyalty apparent. Leah didn't have many friends, but she stuck by the ones she had.

"If you don't like my decisions, take them up with my Alpha," Seth told Old Quil in a hard voice. "I'm not dragging Embry back here just to have you spend three hours lecturing us on keeping tribal secrets for his benefit. The Pack doesn't agree with you, obviously, and neither do I. If you want to push the issue further, by all means, do it. I'll order all my wolves to go home and you can tell the stories to just me."

"Seth!" Even Sue was shocked at his disrespectfulness. The Beta just shrugged. The sun was finally slipping out of sight and the light from the growing bonfire illuminated his features, making him looked worn.

"Hey, I'm not the one that threw the fit here," Seth stated. "We all just wanted to hear the stories like normal, so can we get on with it please? Collin wants to go girl hunting, and I still have the joy of relaying tonight's festivities to Jake, who shouldn't have to be bothered by all this."

"Is Leah coming back?" Sue asked worriedly and Seth shook his head.

"Probably not."

This seemed to upset the elders even more, and as they were arguing as to whether or not Seth should go order Leah back as well, Paul's tiny imprint stood up from the log she had been resting on. Cassie yawned in a bored tone and ran her fingers through her hair, fluffing it slightly before clearing her throat.

"Well, gosh," Cassie said brightly, although there was complete disinterest in her voice. "This has been a lot of fun. But I have to be honest, if I wanted to spend an evening with elitist snobbery and people being treated unkindly, I would have stayed in the city and done it in style. Making people feel like trash is so much better with Roederer Cristal champagne and caviar on toast. This was…quaint, but not really my thing. Now if you'll excuse me, everyone."

And with a look of utter disdain at the Council, Cassie and her boots strutted right on out of there. Paul gave Seth a quick look, and when the Beta nodded slightly, Paul abandoned the meeting. It was a first for him, it was a first for all of them, the bonfires were one of their most sacred traditions, but Paul was having a lot of firsts these days. He caught up with Cassie before she reached the dangerous part of the trail, and his little imprint was fuming.

"I'm sorry," Cassie snapped as she stomped along. "I know that was rude, but they were picking on Embry and he was so nice to me, and that just wasn't right. I can't stand it when people treat each other-"

Midway through her sentence Paul grabbed her hand and pulled her back around, his mouth crashing down on hers. He kissed her until she was panting for breath, and then he put her back to a redwood and kissed her some more, his tongue tasting hers as his hands slid up and down her sides hungrily. Finally he broke away, leaning down so that their faces were closer to being level.

"Cass, I am so fucking proud of you it's stupid," he whispered in a roughened voice, and Paul watched Cassie's eyes soften as his words sank in. She looked thrown off her guard, and he repeated it just to see the real Cassie, the one he had yet to meet, slip through. He stalked closer, a predator, ready to tear her down and shred her to pieces because inside this girl somewhere was his mate, and he was going to find her. Inside this girl was the one he really wanted, and Paul was going to talk to her and tease her and touch her and push her until he caught her, the real her. He was a damn good hunter and he knew when his prey was weakening.

"Language, Paul," was the best Cassie could come up with and Paul growled possessively. His. He kissed her again, hauling her up his body as her arms wrapped around his neck. He put her back into the tree, one arm between her and the roughened bark, and Paul tried to tell her with his mouth why he was so proud.

She was a pain in his ass, a troublemaker, a tramp, but she was _his_ pain in the ass troublemaking tramp, one who had just offended the hell out of the most important authority in his life, in loyalty to someone she barely knew. She was his, but he was hers, and she had no problem using his strength to help her protect others. She didn't ask him before leaving, she didn't make him come with her, and she didn't bother to figure out how to get back home. She'd just left.

Damn, he loved that.

Paul also loved the way her legs felt tightening around his waist, and he loved how her scent changed when he kissed her. He loved how the longer they were around each other, that each time she touched him her fingers dug in a little tighter, her arms held on a little longer. He loved…not _always_ being interrupted by this freaking kid! There was a deliberate cough, announcing Collin's presence for Cassie's benefit and Paul cursed softly against her hair.

"Wow, what a night, huh?" the young wolf declared brightly as he appeared out of the woods, hoping down onto the trail in one easy leap. "First Emb goes all retarded and brings his girl, knowing it's gonna cause hell. Then Sims gets traumatized thinking we all can't stand her. Then _I_ get traumatized seeing papa molest mama against a tree. Thank god for tequila, right?"

"Collin? Is it possible for you to _ever_ go away?" Paul growled against Cassie's neck, and the vibration caused her to giggle.

"Nope. You could ask Jared to adopt me, Brade and I are brothers from other mothers' udders, anyway. But you'll have to wait, because Kim is tearing Jared a new one for not helping."

"It was a strategic decision and it was the right one," Paul replied seriously, letting Cassie drop down to her feet. He kept pressed against her because he liked how it felt, his hardened body against her soft stomach. She must not have minded because she pressed right back, her face against his chest. "If Jared had moved, Sam would have stayed. Never leave the imprints completely vulnerable, Collin, no matter who, no matter what. Remember that."

"Yeah, but it was _Embry_," Collin argued, sounding frustrated as he wandered over to the edge of the cliff and plopped down lazily. He grabbed up a couple pebbles and lobbed them off into the darkness. "Why's everyone gotta trip on him like this?"

"Because something's wrong with him, Collin," Paul rumbled, rolling around so that his shoulders were now to the tree and Cassie was leaning back against him, his arms over her chest. "Can't you feel it? Can't you see it? Emb's not thinking things through the way he should, he's not himself anymore. We all know better than to bring a non-imprint to the meetings without prior consent, but it never occurred to him. He just wanted Sims with him so he brought her. He was actually surprised the elders said no, but Embry knew exactly how hard Jacob had to argue to get Bella allowed to come all those years ago. Embry knows better, but it's like he's shutting off from reason."

"So he's going crazy," Collin muttered unhappily. "Great. Which one of us do you think will go next? It won't be you imprinted guys so the rest of us unlucky bastards better watch out. Leah's finally happy now, so I really hope it's not her."

Cassie glanced worriedly at Paul, and the wolf sighed. "Collin?"

"Hmm?"

"Stop worrying about this," Paul ordered. "Go. Go get drunk with normal kids, don't hit anyone while you're drunk, and if you get Ashlee Davies pregnant, I'll put you on every weekend patrol for the rest of your life. Go, be sixteen for a night and let us worry about it."

Collin opened his mouth, then shut it again. "Yeah. Okay." He stood up and then shot Cassie a lopsided grin. "By the way, half pint, you left Old Quil up there foaming at the mouth. Very cool." He bumped fists with her, shot Paul a slightly bigger grin, and added, "I like being an only child, so you two behave tonight."

Paul growled and Collin trotted off, looking more like himself. Cassie snickered and then looked up at Paul, smiling at him. "You really have adopted him, huh? Are his parents jerks?"

"Naw, Collin's folks are good people. His dad sometimes gets pissed, thinks Collin's throwing his life away by being a troublemaker and sneaking out all the time, but his mom just tries to love him even more. She thinks that the more time they spend with him, the more likely he will be to stop hanging out with a bad crowd, older guys and all that. It's hard on him to watch them care, knowing he's hurting them. It would almost be easier if they yelled at him like Brady's folks, instead of all the family bonding shit they've tried to help with his supposed behavioral problems."

"Behavioral problems?" Cassie asked in confusion and Paul gestured up towards the still glowing bonfire.

"Pack stuff," Paul said. "We can't tell anyone the truth and it makes us look like thugs and jerkoffs. Jared and I got the same thing in school from missing so much class. The Pack was smaller then, and Sam and Jared and I were running ourselves ragged patrolling. At least we made it through our senior years. Embry dropped out and got a GED instead, Quil's repeating and looks like he won't graduate, and Jake has missed his whole senior year. Billy was pissed at Embry, and won't let Jake do the same thing, so Jake gets to go back to school this next year while they still will let him. Collin and Brady have had it the worst because they've been trying to patrol and do school since they were thirteen and it shows. Jared and I have been pretty mean about making them study when they're exhausted, but they've still got two more years of this and Jare and I made a pact that we won't let them slip like Quil and Emb did."

"You care," Cassie said quietly, and Paul nodded.

"Yeah. This kind of life gets easier as you get older, but for the pups it's hard. I was a total asshole for a while, and Jared dealt by throwing himself into the imprint with Kim. When he was busy being in love, it was easier to pretend things weren't as fucked up as they were. Killing leeches is a good thing, but knowing you killed something that used to be some_one_ kind of messes with you," Paul admitted. "We're all wolves and we love the chase, but Collin's inner wolf is almost scary aggressive, and it bothers Collin that after he's gone in for the kill that the wolf wants more. He made the mistake of telling his folks that he felt screwed up half the time and they tried to put him in therapy for a while, which screwed with him enough to make him almost _actually_ need therapy."

"Which makes sense why he would be worried about you guys going crazy," Cassie deduced, a sad little look on her face. "Poor thing. He really isn't very old, is he?"

"No. Like I said, it's hard on the pups. That's one of the reasons that Jake's trying so hard to get this kid down south to come back with him. Phasing alone messed him up so badly that the pup has been phased for months and can't change back. No one deserves that. Anyway, Sue and Billy convinced Collin's folks that Collin's just kind of a wild kid right now but he'll settle eventually, and making him feel like he's messed up won't help. His mom drags him all over the place, though, still trying to get through to him using culture and all that," Paul added. "He's seen you dance, by the way, down in L.A. two years ago. He recognized you when he met you, although it took awhile for him to place you."

Cassie went very still when Paul said that, but then she plastered a smile on her face. "Really? That sucks. No teenage boy should be dragged to the ballet, especially not in the name of therapy. Hey, are you ready to go? You promised me ice cream."

"Hmmm, abrupt subject change," Paul noted. "Which is not your normal style. I'll give you a two day reprieve, Cass, for you to decide what you want to say and then I'll bring dancing up again."

"Two months reprieve," Cassie countered, and Paul pursed his lips before shaking his head.

"Nope. Three days."

"Three weeks."

"One week and I'll take you to a party before that. Emb's birthday is coming up and I think the Pack owes him a party after tonight's shit," Paul decided, watching Kim storm past with Jared slinking at her heels. Jared gave Paul a look that said his imprint's disappointment in him was decidedly unfair, and Paul smirked at his best friend.

"Two weeks, you'll take me to a party and you'll come with me to Vancouver," Cassie threw in and Paul caved. He had been pretty sure he was going there anyway, because there was no way in hell he was letting his imprint play around that close to the Canadian Packs unguarded, and locking her in the cabin aside Paul had no desire to put his girl in a box and hide her from the rest of the world. She'd hate him.

"One week, a party, and Vancouver," Paul said, thinking they had reached an agreement, but Cassie went for the jugular.

"One week, you take me to a party, you come to Vancouver, _and_ I get to dress you for the Vancouver party."

Paul raised an eyebrow. "Embarrassed to take me like this in front of your friends?" he teased and Cassie shook her head vehemently.

"Paul, some of the hottest models in the world walk into a room in a five dollar Hanes t-shirt and Levi's. I just want to pick the t-shirt and jeans."

"Fine, but there's a forty dollar minimum, that's it."

"Two hundred."

"_Cass_," Paul grumbled a touch plaintively as Sam and Emily passed by, Sam's arm around her shoulders and a smirk on his face as he overheard Paul's conversation. Paul thought that was decidedly unfair.

"Okay, deal," she caved. And then to Paul's shock, Cassie spit in her hand and offered it to him. Paul stared at her for a second, and then laughed. He took her hand and wiped it off on her pants, and before she could stop him, he spit on his own and made her shake with him.

"Eww! Paul!" Cassie wiped her hand across his sleeve and Paul wrapped an arm around her, pausing a moment when he realized that Seth was coming. The younger wolf's head was bent and he looked lost in thought, an unhappy expression on his face as if he had been just told to do something he really didn't want to do. Seth glanced at them briefly but kept on walking, and Paul waited until the Beta passed by before leading Cassie back down the trail.

She stayed tucked under his arm, talking about the kind of ice cream she hoped she could find in La Push, or if they would have to invade Forks on an ice cream finding expedition, but Paul only half listened, wondering what it was that was bothering him. And then he finally realized what it was. The forest had gone quiet, much too quiet, like the animals were in hiding. But it was only quiet in one specific direction.

There was another crack, an angry fist breaking a tree, and the wolf flattened its ears, ready. Paul just didn't know what they were ready for.

* * *

Paul needed to wake up.

He didn't know why he needed to wake up, he didn't have patrol and it was close to three in the morning. His imprint was curled up against him, sleeping the sleep of one badly constructed and slightly burnt lasagna, three aggressive games of Risk (in which Europe utterly destroyed North America, not that anyone in particular rubbed that fact in his face), and way too much apple pie ice cream (not that they had to go halfway to Oregon to find it). She was warm and soft and looked much too small in his t-shirt to get up and leave, but for some reason he needed to.

Paul needed to wake up. Their mate was in danger.

The wolf's worry flooded through Paul's system and he slid fluidly to his feet. The bathroom window was locked, the front door was too, and there was nothing in the cabin but him and Cassie. That meant the danger was outside. Paul took one look at his sleeping imprint and then padded silently to the door, thinking that the only smell in his nostrils were that of Pack. He opened it and stepped outside. There was a wolf in his front yard.

They never stayed out in the open like this, not even at night. But as Paul stood there on his front porch, he watched a lean grey wolf with black spots on its back slinking slowly across the yard, his nose to the ground and his body held loosely ready. Embry never even acknowledged Paul, although he did raise his muzzle in the air and let out a ear splitting howl, loud enough the rattle the cabin's windows. It woke Cassie, who sat up, blinking and worried.

"Paul? What is it?" she whispered in concern, but he shook his head.

"Go back to sleep, Cass," Paul told her firmly. "Everything's fine."

She nodded and pulled the blankets over her head, rolling and laying back down, and Paul pulled the door closed behind him. He had gone to bed in a pair of sweats and he very quietly slipped them off and tied them to his thigh, watching his yard fill with two more wolves, sandy and black, who followed the grey wolf at a careful distance. Seth looked like he was about to order Paul not to phase, but then his ears flattened slightly and his body language invited Paul to join them.

Paul liked to describe the Pack mind as a flowing river, once that was easy to drown in, but tonight it had changed. Tonight the Pack mind was a road, hard and immobile, headed only in one direction. Embry's direction.

Embry's wolf wasn't happy. Embry's wolf didn't like others messing with its mate. Embry's wolf didn't like others messing with its human. Embry's wolf didn't like its mate's shame or its human's hurt feelings, and as a wolf it was unable to understand or change either of these things. But Embry's wolf could hunt out the dangers to itself and its human and its mate and there were no dangers here. It would move on and search other grounds.

Paul thought something, something very upsetting, but Seth was blocking his thoughts so strongly that they were just a dull murmur. Paul worked on blocking his own thoughts like Sam was, and when finished, Seth pulled back. The Beta liked to hunt, but there was no dangers here tonight for them to kill. Perhaps they should go back to guarding their territory?

The patrol routes had been abandoned, the wolf wasn't guarding, it was hunting. There were dangers outside the borders, dangers close by that it smelled often. Perhaps it should go there to hunt.

The Beta thought that perhaps they should not.

The wolf thought that perhaps they should, there were dangers to hunt and it would hunt them. Human treaties meant nothing to it.

The Beta thought that they would not. It was late and there were more patrols to run. Hunting was good, but when safe, guarding was better.

The wolf thought that that they _would_, because if the dangers were gone, crushed between its jaws, then there was nothing to guard against.

The Beta knew that they _would not_.

The wolf knew-

The Beta knew they _**would not**_, and the third and the fourth agreed.

The wolf-

The _**ALPHA**_ knew they _**WOULD NOT**_ and that son of a bitch better put Embry back in charge right the hell now, or the _**ALPHA**_ was going to _**HURT**_ him.

The-

The Alpha wasn't playing around. Jake slammed Embry's wolf self so hard that Paul thought a semi-truck had smashed into them, and that was only the kick back through the Pack bonds. Embry's wolf fled instantly, leaving a confused and sore Embry, wondering why he was here when just a moment he had been patrolling over there. Paul whined in pain and flattened himself on the ground, his body ringing like a tuning fork, and he felt wrenched sideways, similarly to when the Calgary Alpha had fought Jake for control of him.

Embry didn't understand why Paul was phased or why he was in pain, but Embry was sore too. Seth would explain to Embry later, and while he appreciated his fourth's level of commitment to the Pack, if Paul couldn't learn to keep himself from sinking in so deep into the Pack bonds when he was worried, he was going to get hurt again like he had tonight. Jake wanted Seth to stop chiding Paul, Paul did well and Sam did too. Embry and Seth should go patrol, but Sam should take Paul home. Phase back.

So Paul did. He was still flattened on his face on the dirt, and he groaned audibly as Sam padded over to him in human form, the other wolves disappearing into the forest. Sam moved to help, but Paul waved the third away, pushing himself off the ground with a grunt and sitting up. He was dizzy for a moment, but the third's hand on his shoulder, the physical contact with Pack, helped.

"Damn," Paul muttered. Then his eyes widened. "Sam, what the hell just happened?"

"Embry's wolf took control, probably from him being so upset earlier," Sam explained, waiting as Paul forced himself to his feet. "It was only for a minute or two, you phased in almost directly after it happened. How did you know? You were sleeping the last pass we made by you."

"My wolf told me," Paul muttered. "It said Cass was in danger, and I listened without thinking about it. Which normally wouldn't be so damn scary if Embry's wolf hadn't just about sent him hunting for the Cullen's. Shit, Sam…this is bad, isn't it? For Embry?"

"Calm down," Sam told him, squeezing Paul's arm briefly. "We're keeping this from the others, so come to terms with it, Paul. Your wolf side is your instincts and it told you right. Has the wolf fighting you for control at all?"

"No. It doesn't like some of the choices I've made lately, but it more grumbles and sulks then does anything about it."

"I felt it happen," Sam explained. "Embry was thinking that it was so cruel to Sims, what happened today, and he started feeling overly protective. He grew very angry, and the wolf grew very angry, and when Seth ordered Embry to calm down, Emb listened but the wolf side didn't. Emb couldn't fight Seth and the wolf at the same time and it took over. It was an accident, but Seth thinks he can keep it from happening again. Jake obviously could, the way he sent the wolf running like that."

"Okay," Paul nodded, then he shook his head. "Shit, Sam. But yeah, okay. If you don't mind, I think I'm going to go hole up in my house and scream for a little while. That really freaked me out."

"Go talk to Cassie, it'll help," Sam suggested as they began walking towards Paul's home. Paul shook his head.

"Oh no, definitely not."

"Paul, the imprints are here to help us with this kind of stuff," Sam chided him. "So go talk to your girl, and maybe get over yourself a little while you're at it. Despite what you might have told yourself repeatedly, you are not too good for your imprint."

"What?" Paul blinked, "I don't think that."

"Really? That's good to know." Sam didn't sound like he believed him. Paul opened his mouth to argue the point but Sam shoved him none too gently towards the cabin, which had now come into sight. Sam walked away, muttering something about kids, and if Paul hadn't been so disoriented from tonight, he might have understood the irony in that. As it was he stumbled in through the door and locked it behind him, rubbing a hand through his hair.

"Paul? Is everything alright?" Cassie was awake and sitting up in bed, and she had turned on a lamp on his dresser so that she could read. She was peering at him worriedly. "Paul?"

"Yeah…just Embry problems."

"More of them? Is he okay?"

"Who knows anymore," Paul grunted, going to the sink and pouring himself a glass of water. And then another. And then another. Then he wiped the dirt off his hands and went and sat down next to his imprint on the bed. She had been watching him, and when he collapsed back on the bedding, she scooted around so that she was sitting cross legged by his head.

"Is Embry okay?" she repeated softly, and Paul realized she looked really worried, so he reached up and tugged a strand of blonde hair.

"Yeah. He's got some problems but Seth and Jake seem to think they have it handled. It just sucks for him right now, and I don't know how to help him. Can we please not talk about this anymore?"

Cassie nodded and leaned back against the headboard, running one hand through his closely cut hair as she returned to reading. She continued the motion as she lost herself into her book, and Paul closed his eyes. It felt good, relaxing, comfortable. And she was quiet. So rarely had he ever been around her when she was quiet. Even reading, she always would stop and comment on what she had read, making her solo activity a group one. But even today, when she had woken up way too cheerful for a girl who had been plastered the night before, or tonight after the attempted bonfire, she had been more subdued. Happy, but subdued. It was a change, but not a bad one, and it had clued Paul in that she was starting to finally relax around him. She was starting to trust him, or at least, she was starting to like being around him in his world.

That was nice, because to be honest, Paul hated her world with a passion.

He hated that goddamn hotel room that reminded him he was poor as shit every time he stepped in there. He hated the men and the women, he hated the sex and the river of alcohol, he hated the drugs that he wasn't completely convinced Cassie wasn't doing. He hated that his imprint felt she needed to live in a world where it was okay to be just another notch on someone's belt. He hated that she had as many of her own belts as she had shoes, and he hated most of all that she lived in that world all alone.

Paul wanted her here, with them, in this world. It was better, slower, tighter knitted. He wanted her in a world where there were people invested in her, in her happiness, people who she sat up in the middle of the night worrying about while pretending to read. He wanted her here with him. He wanted her fingers in his hair and her steady heartbeat always close enough to hear and her little mangled foot resting against his bare hip.

Bare hip? Aww hell.

"Cass?" Paul groaned, covering his face with his hand and giving her hair another tug.

"Hmmm?" She sounded just a touch too upbeat, clueing him in.

"Is the reason you're pretending to read because you're worried about Embry or because I'm bare ass naked?"

"Oh, you're not naked, Paul. You are very nicely accessorized with the pants around the thigh thing. An odd fashion statement, I'll admit, but lovely nonetheless. Have you ever considered underwear modeling? They would save a fortune in not having to buy those inserts-"

Paul snatched the blanket around his hips and twisted, pulling her down into him and tickling her mercilessly as she shrieked and laughed, her flailing feet almost accidentally ending any future modeling career he might have considered, but it was just as well. He mauled Cassie's sides until she was a puddle of person, tears running from her eyes, and then he mauled Cassie's lips, because he figured they were connected to most important parts of her. He'd steal her lips, then her breath, then her heart, and then and only then would he go hunting for the rest of her. He was a patient animal. He could wait.

The wolf was pleased that at least now they were hunting, and Paul pushed that side of himself away forcibly just to prove he wasn't Embry, just to prove he could. And then he caved when the wolf felt injured and unhappy, because he wanted their mate too. Grudgingly Paul let the wolf back in the forefront of his mind, because it was just too strange to have himself pouting about himself. The wolf found it strange that Paul was fighting it when the wolf was the same as it had always been, and it wanted control about as much as Paul wanted to mate with a toothbrush. Paul decided that the wolf needed to work on its analogies, but the wolf was busy snuffing their mate's hair, utterly content.

Together they wrapped around their imprint and held her in their arms, thinking that after only three days, they were ready to sleep like this forever.

* * *

"I need to leave."

Paul looked up in surprise from where he and Jared and Sam were finishing putting on the new skid plate that they had rush ordered for his imprint's car. Cassie had been inside Jared's apartment learning how to make jewelry with Emily and Kim, and they had heard her phone go off. Paul had known she was speaking in Russian, but with the exception of the occasional yelling she did when throwing things at him, Paul could never tell if the conversations she had were good or bad. She had gotten three calls right in a row, and by the last one she came outside, her shoulders stiff and her voice clipped.

"I need to leave, is this drivable yet?" Cassie asked briskly.

"Yeah, mostly," Paul nodded, but he frowned. "Are you sure you have to go, Cass? The last part is supposed to be in this afternoon and we'll be done by tomorrow. Plus tomorrow night is Emb's birthday."

Cassie closed her eyes and tapped her fingernails against her hip. Then she frowned as her phone rang again, and Paul shared a look with the other guys as her scented changed to one of distress. She didn't answer, instead hitting the off button and turning her phone to silent. Paul stood up and wiped his greasy hands off on his jeans. She was wearing a cute little white mini dress, so instead of putting his hands on her waist, he wrapped an arm behind her head and shoulders, tugging her in closer.

"Cass?" he asked quietly. "Is everything cool? Because you smell like everything's not."

"Yeah, I just need to leave."

He shouldn't have been surprised, she had been there for the better part of a week, but he'd enjoyed it so much that Paul had kind of hoped Cassie would forget that she actually did have somewhere else to go. His imprint was fun, constantly teasing him and testing him and wanting to see and do everything she could. He loved spending his days with her to talk to and he loved spending his nights with her tucked in his arms. With the exception of another Embry incident (Jared had said the wrong thing when phased and Embry had nearly lost it while Sims was sleeping against his wolf form), everything had been very relaxed and peaceful. Paul had rather hoped it might stay that way.

"Why do you need to leave?" he rumbled, trying to keep the disappointment from his voice.

"Because as absolutely awe inspiring as it is to see everyone else _but_ me do something around here," Cassie said in a bored, standoffish voice, "I do actually have a life outside being a spectator to yours, Paul." Then she glanced at her watch and pulled back from his embrace.

Jared whistled low under his breath and Sam flinched, but Paul didn't buy that cold impersonal shit for a second. He pulled her right back in, growling, "Guys, just finish and leave it at that. It's drivable." Then he turned and looked at Cassie. "I'm not going to force you to stay here, but if something's wrong, you don't have to go there."

"Nothing's wrong, Paul," she insisted. "I just have some business to attend to, and I'm pissed because it wasn't handled properly while I was gone. Apparently some things you have to do yourself."

"Business?" Jared chuckled. "You investing in shoe stock, Cass?"

"Actually I was purchasing half interest in a night club in Seattle, Jared," Cassie said curtly, "But I just got undercut by some…business associates of my father. Now if you guys don't mind, I really do need to go. I had put a significant amount of my own personal cash into this investment, all of which will be worth nothing in a matter of hours."

"Yeah, okay," Jared nodded. "Sorry Cass, we didn't think…"

"You didn't think I did anything but drink and slug pills, I got the idea, Jared."

This time Sam whistled and Jared flinched. At that Paul let her go, and she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at the loss of contact. Paul pretended that didn't hurt. Sam and Jared finished and pulled their tools, jacking down the car before handing the keys to Cassie. She seemed relieved, a little too relieved, and then she gave Paul a swift kiss on the chin, the highest she could reach.

"Sorry, I know I'm being a jerk," she muttered, her voice softening slightly. "But I stayed too long and I'm going to pay for it. I knew better, but I really liked being here with you, Paul. I'll come back tomorrow night, for Embry's party, okay? I'll grab my stuff then."

"Yeah, okay, Cass," Paul nodded. He nuzzled her ear lightly, but she pulled away quickly, and then she was gone, the Corvette engine revving as her short legs made her struggle with the clutch. Paul watched her go silently.

"Hey Paul?" Jared asked. "Is it just me or did we just see a new side of Cassie? An unhappy panicked bitchy side of Cassie?"

"Yep."

"Are we going spying tonight?"

"Damn straight we are."

Spying on Cassie reminded Paul why he didn't spy on Cassie, or at least why he should do it alone, because standing outside her hotel room at two in the morning listening to her having sex with someone else was humiliating enough without having Jared there giving him a sympathetic look. He did know one thing though. Whoever this Roman guy was, Paul wanted to hurt him. A lot.

Collin told him later that it was the bouncer at a nearby club that Cassie had taken Collin to, and the young wolf had offered to go bouncer breaking for Paul, but Paul had said no. It wouldn't do anything in the end. Paul couldn't beat up every single lover Cassie took, especially not the girls, and he had known this side of his imprint from day two. He had just let the imprint bond pull him in too close these last couple days, and her constant presence had molded his attraction to her into a need that he didn't necessarily feel. So Paul let it go and reminded himself that Cass was his imprint, half his heart and more of his soul, and being angry at her was pointless, not when he was unwilling to ask her to change.

As long as Paul couldn't give her a better life than she already had, he wouldn't ask her to leave hers. It wasn't fair. It still didn't stop him from curtly telling her, when she called a couple hours later, for her to tell Roman hi for him and Jared. She hadn't made excuses but Cass had quietly said goodnight and hung up. Paul decided that as much as she was a slut, he was equally an asshole, so he needed to shut his mouth and accept his own decision to not fall head over heels for his imprint the way Jared had done, because he was stronger than that. Paul accepted the imprint, his affection for her and his desire to protect her, but Paul wanted his own choice in who he fell in love with. And so far Cassie didn't fit the bill of what Paul wanted, not enough anyway, and taking out his jealousy on a girl he had turned down repeatedly was a pretty asshole move.

He hadn't called to apologize. Then again she hadn't gotten mad. However Cassie had texted him a little sad smiley face, and Paul had texted her back an 'O', symbolizing a hug, and everything was better between them again. Paul wasn't quite sure why Jared kept calling him an idiot and smacking his head, but Jared always had been a little weird anyways.

Cassie was good to her word, showing up a couple hours before Embry's party in a whirlwind of chatter and clever commentary, saying a lot without ever really saying much. She had fended off questions regarding her business investment and had instead raided Paul's closet, taking one of his old shirts and somehow warping it into an outfit that showed so much leg he had choked on his soda when she was done getting ready. Paul wasn't sure how to take that, knowing his imprint was with another man the night before, hell even smelling it on her, and watching her display so openly that she was his. But it seemed that Cassie was trying to make a point that her loyalty was to him, even if they weren't exclusive or even dating really, and again Paul let it go. He spent the night enjoying watching his imprint and his Pack enjoying themselves, and kept himself close to Embry and Sims in a show of support that he felt Embry was really starting to need these days.

Cass had been a little extra wired, tapping her fingers a lot and bopping around, but after dancing half the night with the other girls and Collin, she had finally started to unwind. By the time they were at Seth's house and watching Embry's Seinfeld DVDs, a show that Paul thought could put even Cassie in a coma, his imprint had relaxed enough to actually go still for the first time that night, curled up against Paul's chest and watching the television without once mocking it from boredom.

She had even snuck a few kisses when Embry was getting chewed out by Sue for molesting Sims beneath a blanket, and Paul had chuckled at the unfairness. When Embry and Sims had bolted for the backyard, Cassie had flopped against Paul's torso, declaring 'Finally! Someone rescue me, please.', and Paul had spent the better part of a half hour necking with his sexy little imprint in the kitchen, his version of an imprint rescue scenario.

The night would have been great if Seth hadn't overheard Sims actually convince an aroused and territorial Embry that it was a _good idea_ for him to let go of his wolf side when they were fooling around out behind the Beta's house. Seth had been in a near panic, thinking that Sims was going to get raped or severely hurt by the time the two were all done, and he had sent Leah to go intervene, thinking that any of the male wolves would end up causing a fight with a naked vulnerable Sims in between, and that Embry's wolf hopefully wouldn't find a female a threat. Embry's eyes had been nearly black when he and his girl had returned to Seth's house, Sims ribbing the Pack about them being scared of Embry, utterly oblivious to how _goddamn fucking stupid_ she was being.

Paul didn't give a damn if it hurt feelings when Paul pulled Cassie behind him when they walked by. If Sims was going to suggest stupid shit and Embry was going to merrily go along with it, then that was their own deal and Paul was keeping his imprint out of it. It was one hell of a way to end an evening Paul and Jared had blown all their extra cash on, and Paul had stomped home, Cassie trying and failing to keep up with his long angry strides. It had been hard to keep up the level of anger when she had finally grabbed him around the waist and dug her heels into the ground, pulling for all she was worth. Paul had looked at her in confusion, but Cassie had simply smiled and grabbed his hand in hers, forcing him to walk at a more normal speed and calming him slightly.

Still, he was pissed.

Paul had been pissed at Embry, who should have known better, but he had been so pissed at Sims that Paul had considered putting her in a box and shipping her back to Chicago, or wherever the hell she'd come from. He told Cassie this in length, including what kind of packing materials he would use on irresponsible little seventeen year old girls who thought they were much smarter than they actually were. However Cassie had reminded him that shipping live people cross country against their will was significantly more postage and trouble than one would think, and he could always put her on a boat to Russia instead. Those always took a long time to get there and back, giving Sims plenty of chances for personal enlightenment. And besides, passage could be cheap, depending on if one considered a bed and food as necessary amenities.

Then Cassie had dragged him into his bed and jumped on his back barefoot just because it was fun and because she could, and it was the closest to a back rub his wolf strengthened muscles were going to get from her less than mighty hands. She had quite a good time trying to discover if Paul's backside had any squishy parts at all, and after growing bored of jumping, she had sat crossed legged on his back and painted her fingernails. They had played I Spy until her nails had dried and Cassie had stood back up, telling Paul he wasn't allowed to peak. Then she had stripped off his shirt and dumped it on his head, her body almost completely smelling like him now.

It was odd how the little things could make the world seem so much better again.

Cassie didn't know he noticed, but she went en pointe on a single foot right in the curve of his lower back, her body so perfectly balanced that he made himself stop breathing just so he wouldn't ruin it for her. Then she jumped up lightly and switched feet so quickly that Paul had to fight himself from rolling over and snatching her up and making her tell him everything, absolutely everything about her, who she was now and who she had ever been. Instead she laughed that soft breathy laugh and told him to breathe, doing a light step off the center of his shoulder blades. She must have jumped but he barely heard the movement, even with his wolf ears, and her toes ever so slightly pressed his down on his hips before she ended up back en pointe on the small of his back. With his face in the pillow and the shirt over his head, he had missed it. Damn.

And just like a damn ping pong ball, Paul bounced right back, wanting her, wanting to know everything about her, wanting her to be his.

She _was_ his, the wolf thought, adding that maybe it should switch humans, because Paul seemed to be rather defective lately. Paul ignored that and pressed his face back in the pillow, thinking that even if she was dancing where no one could ever see, not even him, she was still dancing and that meant something.

Closing his eyes, Paul relaxed and let the world be, content to be here like this, just him and just her. Just as it should be.

* * *

"Paul, get to Quil's, it's Embry."

That was all Collin snapped over the phone before hanging up, but it was all Paul needed to know.

"Dammit," Paul hissed, looking at the clock. The bar was pretty dead but he couldn't just bail and expect to have a job waiting for him when he got back. Paul stuck his head back through the kitchen window, disrupting Jared's brother from a rather inappropriate workplace embrace with Casey, the waitress. "Shane! There's an emergency, can you and Case figure a way to cover my last hour? You can take the whole tip jar."

"Yeah, of course," Shane looked at him in instant concern. "It isn't Jared, is it?"

"No," Paul grunted in a clipped tone and then he was out the door. He made it to the woods just a touch too fast for a normal human and once there, he ran for Embry and Quil's home at a dead sprint. He was the last one there, because his nose told Paul that the whole Pack was already present. No one was patrolling the borders and that was bad. Really bad. Seth's car was out front and a bloody and battered Brady was sitting on the hood of it, sobbing against Jared's shoulder and repeating over and over again that he was so very sorry. The look Jared gave Paul over Brady's head was one of dread, and Paul steeled himself for what he was going to find inside.

It was a good thing he had. Embry was going insane.

The younger wolf was balled up in the corner, his knees to his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs, his face buried from view. He was rocking back and forth, seemingly ignorant of the steady stream of words coming from the Beta's mouth, words of comfort that were so heavy that they pressed against Paul the moment he stepped in the house, leaving Paul feeling strangely numb.

"You're okay, Embry, you're still with us and you're okay," Seth kept repeating from his place directly in front of the other wolf, his hand wrapped behind Embry's neck as Embry rocked and muttered words of his own. He was switching back and forth between English and Quileute but his thoughts were scattered, broken, confusing.

"I knew better, still did it, knew better still did it, can't kill them, don't want to kill anybody, fuck it hurts it hurts it hurts…"

"Emb," Paul whispered softly, shifting closer, but Sam caught Paul's eye and shook his head. Quil was standing against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, watching Embry with a pained expression on his face. Embry was Quil's best friend, and it obviously hurt him to see the older wolf brought to this. Collin was standing next to Leah by the hallway, his arm wrapped around her waist as she gazed at anything but Embry, her lower lip quivering ever so slightly. In the center of the room was Sims, balled up in Embry's sweatshirt, watching her boyfriend deconstruct with watery eyes.

"Fuck it hurts, can't put it back, back in the hole, it won't fit, not anymore, not again, not ever again, Jake it won't fit it won't fit and it hurts it hurts it's my fault it hurts…"

"He's losing his mind," Quil whispered in a tortured voice, but Sims was shaking her head.

"No, he's okay, he's going to be okay," Sims insisted softly, balling her little fists up in the ends of her sweatshirt. Suddenly, without any warning at all, Paul hated her. He hated every damn thing about her, this girl, this stupid chit who showed up and now Embry was a shattered shell of who he used to be. Paul didn't care if it was her fault or not, he hated her.

"The next time you want to fuck an actual wolf, go to a goddamn zoo, Sims," Paul snarled furiously at the human on the couch. "He had enough trouble controlling the wolf, and you took it out to _play_ with you. You stupid ignorant _child_, he's broken now! He was fine until you, and you fucking _broke_ him."

Sims didn't defend herself, instead she ignored them completely, her face pained as she watched Embry.

"Paul, enough," Sam whispered quietly, watching Embry begin growling and muttering harsher to himself. "Don't attack her, not even verbally. We don't know what will happen."

"Is he going to be okay?" Leah asked, still not looking directly at the trembling wolf.

"Jake's trying to bring him back," Seth murmured softly. "The wolf side of Embry's personality pulled loose today, and he's trying to figure out how to put everything back in place. Emb's still in there, he's just lost."

"What do we do? What the hell are we supposed to do?" Collin asked, forcing his voice to remain calm despite his distress. "Do we call the elders?"

"The elders don't know what's happening to him," Sam replied, because Seth was back to speaking to Embry, assuring him over and over that everything was okay.

"They don't make a manual for this, Collin," Jared said quietly, entering the house with his hand on Brady's shoulder. The young wolf took a look at Embry and tears began rolling down his face again, although he was silent. Paul didn't know what was said or done to trigger this spiral in Emb, but it was obvious who caused it.

"Then what do we do? Seth, what do we do?"

"Seth's doing it, Collin," Sam stated sadly. "Seth's holding Embry steady, keeping him calm, and Embry's trying to put himself together again."

Humpty dumpty sat on a goddamn wall. Where was Cass's duct tape when they needed it? And how the hell were they supposed to help him?

The wolf stirred, raising its head and wondering if this was one of those rhetorical questions or if Paul was actually asking it. Paul closed his eyes, thinking once again that it was scary as hell having a conversation with his wolf when Embry was being destroyed by his. The wolf snorted derisively. It didn't have any plans to try and wrest control from its human. The human world was far too complicated to function in even in Paul's human form, and it would be impossible to mate with their imprint if forever in wolf form. And they couldn't do anything for the wolf that should be culled, but the Alpha might, and they could help the Alpha.

"How?" Paul asked out loud and Jared groaned.

"Don't you start this shit too, man," Jared said warningly, glancing over at the obviously upset pups. Paul shook his head at Jared, ignoring him.

How?

The female is upset, and that weakens the Alpha, the wolf replied. Which female? Leah? For a moment the wolf was silent, and then it responded hesitantly, as if confused. Yes, her too. The Pack is distressed by their distress, and the Alpha weakened. Calm the Pack, and it will calm our brother.

Paul sort of understood, even if the Pack was acting quiet and calm they most definitely weren't feeling that. Even Seth smelled of distress. So Paul pulled out his duct tape, a mixture of callousness and directness that made him infamous for being the Pack jerk.

"Collin, let go of Leah," Paul suddenly barked, making even Seth's head pull up in surprise. "Leah, suck it up and look at Embry, he's having a thing right now but he's not a leper. If you can't control yourself, get out of the room, you're making everyone else more upset."

Leah stared at Paul in disbelief as Collin hesitantly dropped his arm at the order. Sims was looking at Paul as if he'd grown another head.

"I mean it, Lee-lee, when you get upset it makes us even more upset, and it's not fair but you have to get a hold of yourself."

"Screw you too, Paul," Leah snapped, but he could see in her eyes that she understood. Leah deliberately made herself look at Embry, her face tightening. Then it smoothed away into no expression at all, and Paul nodded.

"Good. Brady, get your ass over here by me and stop making Jared babysit you. If you screwed up, then be upset on your own time. _Now_, Brady," he growled and Brady jumped to do as ordered. "Quil, Collin, he's having a mental fucking breakdown, but he's not dead. You're not at a goddamn funeral, so stop acting like it. Emb's gonna be embarrassed enough as it is when he comes out of this. Jared…"

Paul paused and looked at Jared, who seemed a little pissed. "What's wrong with _you_ now?"

"Embry bumped me," Jared muttered, looking embarrassed. Paul stared at him, and then at the mumbling wolf on the floor, and then he rolled his eyes.

"Perfect. He's stronger now. Then Emb is definitely not dying, he's just going to be a bigger pain in our asses."

"Don't talk about him like that," Sims spoke up, her quiet voice full of anger, but Paul snorted derisively.

"Don't talk at all, you talking only makes everyone's life harder," Paul snapped, and Sam growled at him warningly. Paul didn't care, he wasn't going to pull punches with Sims either. "Now everyone who is not Seth and Sam, have a fucking backbone, because this shit's going to be over soon and the last thing Emb needs is you all making a big deal over it and making him feel worse. Got it?" There was silence, and so Paul's voice rose slightly to a dull roar. "_Got_ _it_?"

"_Yes_," was the collective response from everyone but Sims.

"Good." He nodded and folded his arms across his chest. Sam gave Paul a nod and returned his attention to Seth and Embry, completely ignoring the Pack now that Paul had taken charge of them. And charge he had taken, because no one said a word after that, and they all stood silently and nearly at military attention. The tension had dropped several notches because they had been ordered to understand everything would be okay, and as Pack they did as they were ordered. And Leah, well, orders never really stuck with her but she seemed to want to believe Paul so she followed suit.

No one looked at Sims. That was probably his fault, but Paul was still angry at her, and Sims could sit there all alone feeling all sad as long as it made her happy. He didn't give a rat's ass what she did as long as she wasn't making things even worse.

The wolf didn't think Paul was treating their Packmate very well. Paul didn't think being Embry's girlfriend made Sims anywhere close to being Pack, so he wasn't really concerned with how he was treating her.

Embry suddenly went very quiet, a heavy shudder rippling through his body, and then he grew still as if something was holding him in place. _Jake_. The Alpha had finally gotten through the chaos in Embry's mind. Relief washed over Paul, and he realized that it carried through to the Pack, that they were watching him and his reactions. If Paul was relieved then they were too. They were treating him as the third, letting Sam slide to the background the way the older wolf wanted. Damn. Paul really hadn't wanted this kind of authority and yet here he was. This was Sam's job, but Sam was once again nodding approvingly at Paul, and he had the audacity to look proud.

If Sam opened his mouth and said some sort of shit about a torch being passed, Paul was going to deck him.

Jake might have grabbed Embry and helped him come back to himself, but the process took a long time. The sun had already slipped from the sky when Embry shuddered again, seeming to half wake up out of the silent motionlessness that he'd been in for hours. Seth's voice was hoarse from spending so much time speaking to Embry, and the Beta looked absolutely exhausted. Sam looked almost as tired, but he kept a steadying hand on his Beta's shoulder, supporting Seth even as Seth had supported Embry.

"Hey man. You still here with us?" Seth asked quietly, and Embry mumbled a sorry as his still slightly darkened eyes swept the room and landed on Sims. Paul watched Embry's expression soften as he leaned forward towards the girl on the couch. It was instinct for him at this point to search her out and move for her. It was the same thing Jared did to Kim, the same Quil did to Claire, and Paul wasn't blind. He knew that he was doing it too, more and more often around Cassie. If they hadn't have known better, Paul wasn't sure he would have been able to tell the difference between Embry and an imprinted wolf.

What that meant, Paul just didn't know.

Brady was apologizing, Paul's arm holding him back in case Embry's anger resurfaced, and Seth was talking to Embry as the wolf practically crawled to Sims, rolling up onto the couch and burying his face in her lap. She made a little noise and wrapped her arms around him, holding Embry like she was going to keep his head above water by sheer strength of love alone, and on some level Paul understood and appreciated that deep commitment she had for Embry. She looked so scared now that she had Embry to hold onto, as if she didn't have to keep a brave face anymore, and after Embry ordered a grumbling Jared to get him a beer, he rolled over and pressed his face into her thigh and wrapped his arms around her, apologizing for scaring her. He had scared all of them.

Embry didn't drink the beer. Instead he spoke to a very worried Jake on the phone, begging the Alpha not to come back early, his obvious feelings of shame tugging at Paul's heart. Afterwards, Seth had phased and had spoken to Jake in private for a long time. When he finally returned with a wet nose and a resigned expression, Seth gave Embry an order to go to bed and to sleep, and he added an additional order to stay human.

That confused Paul, but the older wolf was waiting until later to ask. Seth ordered Leah to patrol and told her that he needed her to handle patrol alone, because Seth was calling an emergency meeting with the Council and was taking the rest of the wolves with him. Leah was equally confused but she did as she was told, and after a call to Billy in which Seth cryptically told the chief that he was agreeing and to be on the cliffs in two hours, Seth led his Pack deep into the woods.

The Beta looked much older than his eighteen years as he faced the gathered wolves.

"Okay, so here's the deal," Seth stated wearily. "We almost lost Embry today." At their murmur of distress, Seth held up a hand for silence. "I know what Paul said, but he was being deliberately optimistic. We almost lost Emb in his head, and Jake had a hell of a time reaching him. Embry's officially off patrol until Jake gets back, and if he so much as sneezes wrong, Jake's coming home. Emb's self esteem is almost nothing at this point, and Jake's just killing enough time to try and keep Embry from feeling more like a failure before returning. It's going to hurt him even more if he's the freak of the Pack that has to be rescued by his Alpha."

"He's not," Quil said immediately in defense of his friend, and Seth gave Quil a small smile.

"We know that, Quil. He doesn't. I assume that at this point you all can see the similarities between Embry and the other imprinted wolves?"

There was silence, but yes, they all had noticed. Seth nodded. "Billy and Old Quil have a theory that maybe Samantha really is Embry's imprint and that's causing some of Embry's…issues."

"How is that possible?" Jared asked in confusion. "Embry _didn't_ imprint on her. It would have happened the first time he saw her."

"Not if Samantha wasn't finished becoming what she was meant to be," Sam muttered, realizing where Seth was going with this. It took Paul a second longer, and then he hissed.

"Shit," Paul breathed. "You think she's supposed to phase?"

"Jake thinks it's possible," Seth admitted. "Joe Carter is Levi Uley's grandnephew. The bloodlines are there but weak. It's a long shot and realistically she should have phased during the leech attack if she was going to. Then again Emmett reminded me that Leah phased upset, not because of leeches, and Sims is about the coolest cucumber I know. She might phase, but she'll have to get awfully upset, even more than she was today."

"How the hell is that going to happen?" Collin wanted to know, sharing an uncomfortably look with Brady.

"She's confident in herself, and she's got Embry and Leah at her back," the Beta replied. "We take them away, leave her alone, show her she's defenseless. Piss her off, get her scared, push her buttons until she breaks."

"You want us as a group to terrorize Sims until she phases?" Jared asked in horror. "Shit Seth, I know I stayed with Kim at the bonfire, but I can't do that to Embry. Hell, I don't really like Sims at all right now, but I don't think I could upset her until she phases. That's cruel and I won't do it."

"You'll do it because he already set it in motion, Jare," Paul sighed, rubbing his temples tiredly. "Leah's out running and Emb's been ordered to stay human so he won't know. I'm assuming Jake's going to block Leah so she doesn't see what we're doing?"

Seth nodded, looking resigned. "That's the plan. We do it tonight, before Embry recovers enough to stop us. Before _we_ recover enough to stop us. Keep Embry in your minds, guys, use that to strengthen your resolves. He's only getting worse, he's not getting better, and I don't ever want to have to see him suffer through worse than today."

"I don't like this," Brady said softly, but Collin was watching Paul and said nothing. Quil however was having none of it.

"No. No, no way, not at all. No, Seth. No." Quil's eyes were huge and he looked distraught. "That's my _best_ friend in there and she's his whole world! How the hell am I supposed to agree to this? I won't agree to it, I refuse. I can't do it. I _won't_ do it."

"No one _agrees_," Seth said harshly to the whole Pack. "This is my decision and I'm not asking for a group vote. We do this, because if it doesn't work, I don't know what else to do. Like Jared said, they don't make a wolf manual, and I'm not losing Embry. We won't actually hurt her, and Sims is one tough chick. Come on, think about it. She runs with Leah, guys, and like her or not right now, Sims is a scrapper. I think Sims would make one hell of a sister, and you all know how Leah strengthened Jake once she matured. Hell, Leah's part of the reason Jake was strong enough to take us all back into one Pack again. Another mature female could give this Pack a boost and be an advantage with all these other Packs running around. I think Sims'll be pissed, and she'll have a right to be, but as much as she loves Embry, I think she'll get over it. If not, I'll hug her into submission. I'm very loveable."

"Loveable?" Collin snorted. "You're the asshole that wants us to attack her."

"Enough. We have our orders, even if they're horrible ones," Sam said quietly, and at their looks, he frowned. "What, you assumed I would automatically agree? I don't like it either, but I won't fight it. I think we might as well stick this girl in therapy while we're at it, but I want Embry better more than I want her happy. For the record, anyone who actually hurts her, even a single scratch on accident, gets to spend some time with me. Understood?" Sam's voice lowered to a dangerous growl.

Yeah, they got it.

"The Council will push her buttons, our job is to keep her in the circle and to not show any kind of emotion whatsoever. That's your orders. Keep her away from the elders, and treat her as if she's threat."

"You're kidding me. Sims a threat to us? She'll see through that in an instant," Quil snapped, but Seth's look clamped his mouth shut. Silently Quil seethed.

"Treat her as if she's a threat, and don't interfere," Seth continued. "Do you understand?"

Grudgingly the Pack agreed, all but Quil and Jared. Both were grinding their teeth trying to fight the order. Seth ignored Jared and focused on Quil. "Quil, we need someone to go get Sims and bring her up to the cliffs. Take her in your car to make the climb faster. It has to be you because yours is the only scent that won't immediately wake Embry if you're in his room. He's used to your scent being everywhere."

"Fuck you, Seth," was the best Quil could manage as Seth's voice strengthened and forced the order on Quil.

Seth's eyes narrowed. "You won't mess this up, Quil. You won't do anything to alert Embry, you won't take too long to get her, you won't even breathe wrong. Do you understand? Quil? _Do you understand_?"

"He's gonna hate me," Quil whispered, his resistance shattered by the strength of his Beta's will. Seth put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I ordered you, Quil," Seth said gently. "You fought it, but there's only so much you could do. Tell Emb the truth and let him hate me for it." Quil looked away, saying nothing. "Okay, those are the orders. Get to the cliffs and get your game faces on. Sam, Paul, Jared, stay for a minute."

Collin looked like he was going to say something, but he looked at Paul's face, and then he shut his mouth and slipped deeper into the woods. Now that the younger wolves were gone, Jared turned furious eyes on the higher ranking wolves.

"Okay, one," Jared snapped. "I know this is a dictatorship, but it's fucked up what you're telling us to do, Seth. Two, I have never mistreated a girl before, and I'm not going to start now. Three, if Sims is really going to phase then we need to wait it out, because phasing is hard enough without it being caused by fucked up mistreatment. It messed up Leah, and it'll mess Sims up to, even if it works. As a potential sister, no, I won't hurt her like that. And I'm not as strong as you guys, but I'm stronger than Quil. I will figure out a way to mess this up for you Seth, so you might as well stop right now."

"Jare…" Paul said quietly, and Jared jerked his head to glare at Paul.

"And you!" Jared growled. "I can't believe you just jumped on the fucking bandwagon. If it was anyone else you'd be fighting tooth and nail to stop this too, but since you can't stand the girl you're just standing back like it's nothing. You're an asshole, Paul."

"Paul's more dominant than you, Jared," Sam rumbled quietly. "It's engrained in his nature to take care of the Pack more than you. You're thinking like a man, Paul's thinking like Pack. Your protective instincts are too take care of the girl and Paul's are to take care of Pack. It's not wrong on either side, it just is what it is. The problem is Seth and I can't do this alone, because for us it's both. It's not that I do or don't want to do this, but I don't think I could hurt Embry to protect Samantha or hurt Samantha to protect Embry. Jared, Seth looks like he's ripping in half right now, and Jake's bracing him so he can do this. Stop throwing insults and accept this for what it is. No one likes it, but it's going to happen and either you or Paul will have to do it."

Jared shuddered, but then he looked more closely at Seth. Sam was right, the Beta looked worked. The strain of what he was forcing them to do was etched across his face, and the engrained desire to protect the Beta was stronger for Jared than his other instincts. So he closed his eyes, cursed softly, then dropped his head, whispering "What do I have to do?"

Seth was watching Paul. "What do you think, Paul? You haven't said one way or the other."

Paul took a moment to think about what he was being asked, then he slowly answered. "I think that lately I've wanted to beat some sense into both of those two. I think that if they hadn't deliberately let Emb's wolf out, then maybe tonight wouldn't have happened. I think she's cocky and blinded by her loyalty to Embry, and I think that she'd do anything for him. I think she's sometimes a bitch and always a scrapper and that any human girl that can hold her own with Leah would make one hell of a sister. I'm angry at her, but that's temporary. Would I want her with us? Damn…Yeah, I guess I would. And if I think she's strong enough to run with us, then I think she's strong enough to handle getting pushed around some. If this helps Embry, then it's worth it to me. And I guess that as the wolf the least upset about this, I'm the one who's going to do it, huh?"

Jared scuffed his foot on the ground, Sam nodded and Seth gave Paul a sympathetic look.

"I'll help," Seth promised. "If I can force myself, I'll do what I can. Just do your best and whatever happens, happens."

Paul nodded, shoving any lingering doubts aside and ignoring his wolf's furious disagreement. Scaring a girl. Really in the scheme of things, how hard could this be?

* * *

They were wrong.

They were wrong when they put her in the circle and surrounded her. They were wrong when they threatened her, threatened her father, discredited her mother. They were wrong each time they pushed her back in the center, each time she hit the ground before scrambling to her feet, each time the smell of her fear spiked. They were wrong when Collin snarled at her, when Quil kept her trapped, and when Paul phased, snarling and snapping his fangs in front of her face.

They were wrong because she didn't phase, because they pushed her too far, and because a human girl on her back screaming and striking at his muzzle in a last ditch attempt to save herself was not who they were, was not why they had become like this. They were wrong, they had used their strength wrong, and this whole terrible night had been for nothing.

When Jake's control of the situation slipped, the Alpha wondering why Sims was so damn fuzzy through Paul's eyes…When Leah realized what was happening and after a moment's hesitation let her fiery anger blow the Pack bonds apart…When Embry phased in and saw that Paul's fangs were centimeters from Sims's screaming face, her hands desperately clawing at his eyes to try and stop him…When Embry's utter fury made Leah's seem like a match next to an inferno, and Paul realized that ranked or not Embry was stronger than he was and that Embry was going to kill him tonight…When Paul realized that he didn't blame Embry one bit and wouldn't fight back…

When Paul realized they were so goddamn wrong…

He was still thinking it as Embry's mind disappeared from his head as the Alpha wrestled Emb back into human form. He was still thinking it as Leah slammed into him, sending them bowling into the elders, Sam and Jared's reflexes keeping the old men from being crushed. He didn't fight Leah either, not even when her teeth sank so deep into his throat that he realized she might actually be trying to kill him too. Paul didn't want to die, but he had broken something inside of himself tonight, and in breaking he had come to the conclusion that in being okay with this, he was someone that he never had wanted to be.

Paul had always known he was an asshole. But this…this was something else entirely. This was a person who hurt others, used brutality against those weaker than them, assuming it was okay because they knew better in the end. This was a person who did wrong, who used power and muscle to bully and force. This was a thug, this was a low life, this was a cruel sick bastard. This was him.

The wolf was deeply ashamed of its human, and forced Paul to lie still as their sister shredded their throat.

Collin had tried to save him, Brady had nearly lost an arm in trying to save him, Sam and Jared and Quil had nearly dislocated Leah's jaw in trying to save him. And they had, but Paul wasn't sure they should have. If Paul had taken Jared's side and resisted, maybe tonight would never have happened. It was a point Embry brought up as Paul lay bleeding like a stuck pig, stretched out on his side as he grew dizzy from blood loss.

Embry was right. Paul should have stopped it.

Seth protected him and Quil, but the Beta shouldn't have. Paul would make amends to Embry later, would offer Embry what was left of his throat later, if he survived. Jared's hands were clamped around his neck, trying to stem the blood loss, and Collin was between the fight and Paul, crouched and ready. Ready to protect Paul. Stupid pup. Gotta learn to think for yourself.

Collin did think for himself, and he thought that no one else was touching Paul tonight. Paul could take his guilt and shove it up his ass, because they all did this, not just Paul. Paul was injured and Collin was not. He would protect Paul, even if severely outmatched.

The wolf appreciated the loyalty of its brother, even if its human was a fool.

Collin's wolf needed to focus, because they were young, and this fight was more dangerous than they were used to.

Paul and Collin grew still and waited, Paul's blood a growing puddle beneath Collin's hind paw.

It was hard to think around Embry's raging mind, so Paul didn't think, he just watched. He watched Embry drop Sam with a move that he had never used on them, fighting to hurt if not kill. Sam's bones broke even as the third phased, snarling furiously and limping badly on two paws. Seth phased, driving Embry off Sam, letting Emb's teeth and claws rake long wounds down his body. A particularly deep one from shoulder to hip left the sandy colored wolf dripping blood as badly as Paul. Having decided that Embry had been allowed enough revenge, Sam and Seth wheeled on him simultaneously and took him to ground, their bodies blocking view of Embry's as they turned on him with fang and claw.

It was one thing to know it was a leech under there. It was quite another to know it was your brother being ripped apart.

In the end it was quiet. Paul's wound was closing, leaving only a thick darkened dribble down his white chest, Sam taking himself away from the others with a limping hop, Seth stretched out next to Embry, his muzzle on Embry's hip as the badly battered wolf lay on its side, covered in wounds. In the wild, an animal injured and ashamed of weakness will hide from others. The wolf wanted to slip away, and so Paul rolled to his feet, doing as requested. He growled when Jared tried to follow him, and when left alone, he slunk through the forest miserably.

He used to want to be a sailor, or maybe even a fighter pilot. Instead he was this, a beaten dog, a stupid animal, a bully and a fool.

Paul didn't even phase when he got home. Instead he jumped through the window and ignored the shattering of glass, slinking to the kitchen and curling up in a ball, his nose hidden under his tail.

He was so goddamn ashamed.

The phone rang, once, twice, three times. A pause and then it began ringing again. Wanting nothing more than to hide, Paul phased back to his human form, cursing softly as it re-tore healing flesh, and he grunted in answer. It was Cassie and she was half hysterical.

"_Paul_? Oh thank god, you finally answered. Paul, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"M'fine," Paul mumbled into the phone, sitting down heavily on his bed. His imprint let out a little pained noise, although it was filled with relief, and her voice helped. God it helped so much.

"Thank god…I was scared to death. Paul, what happened? I was fine and then suddenly I felt like the whole world was ending and I've been crying in my bathroom for the last hour. What happened, are you hurt? Paul? _Paul_!"

"Cass…Cass, I did something," Paul whispered. "I did something bad."

Silence, then she quietly asked, "What did you do?"

He swallowed, tried to speak, then swallowed again. Finally he forced it out. "I tried to make Sims phase…I attacked her…while a wolf…I hurt a human, Cass. I did it on purpose…I didn't even feel guilty about it until it was over," Paul told her, and there was a very long pause. When Cassie spoke, her voice was controlled, with no emotion at all.

"Is she okay?" Cassie wanted to know, and Paul's head dropped between his knees.

"I…I don't think so…I didn't touch her, I just scared her, but I went too far…she was crying…she never cries…I think I…I think I broke her."

Think? Paul _knew_ he had. So, so fucking ashamed.

Cassie didn't yell at him, she didn't tell him she was angry or disappointed, instead she simply hung up the phone. Paul didn't try to call her back. He wouldn't want to talk to him either. Instead he curled up on his bed around the pillow that still smelled like Cass, burying his face into fabric that he could pretend was his imprint. Drops of crimson stained the sheets as his throat continued to bleed, but Paul didn't care. Instead he pressed his nose against the fading scent of shampoo, and unable to tear the image of a helpless girl's face from his head, a single drip of liquid watered down the crimson on his sheet. Silent and alone, like always, Paul tried to learn from his mistake, tried to force himself to change, tried to make himself become better than the person he always seemed to end up being.

There was a wall between them, but it was a wall that Collin knew not to breech, and the only thing to do was to let Paul be, to let him hurt alone. It was how the older wolf wanted things to stay, and as just a pup, there wasn't a damn thing Collin could do about it. Shoulders to the front door and eyes on the surrounding darkness, the young wolf still crouched in front of the cabin and kept his vigil.

You know, just in case Embry changed his mind.

* * *

They really hadn't meant to kill her.

Hla'o and Wihl felt very badly for disappointing their Alpha, because they had tried very hard to do as they were told. They really hadn't tried to kill the imprint, but the fort had been guarded heavily and her mate had panicked much too unnecessarily when they had captured their flag. They hadn't meant to kill him but he had twisted in Wihl's jaws and severed his own jugular. They hadn't expected that killing him would end up killing her, but they should have remembered the depths of some imprint bonds. They were sorry. They were really very sorry.

The Alpha was angry, so angry that he ordered them home.

But-

They would go home. Tupkuk would take care of finishing this fight himself, and then they were done distracting Calgary. After all, La Push was returning, and it was his turn. It would take more than numbers to fight back what was coming, and La Push had more than one thing the rest of them wanted. It was the baby Alpha's turn to prove himself.

Blood dripped from Tupkuk's own fangs, confident as he squared off with his enemy, legs stiff and lips wrinkled up. Calgary snarled viciously. The other Alpha was larger, smarter, meaner than any wolf he had ever known, but Calgary was nearly as young as La Push and brute force only took you so far. Even without his wolfborn, Saskatchewan wasn't worried.

After all, Tupkuk had proved himself a long time ago.

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Rico: …and so the waitress says, at least the rabbit got some tail! Get it? _Get_ _it_? Aww, no one ever likes my jokes…


	10. Chapter 9

A/N Heya! I've set up a live journal account now for these fics in case anyone's interested, and the link is on my homepage. Big thanks to my reviewers: _The_ _bunny always dies first, MadToTheBone 1, ally leigh, LightIsPrecious, pinkshirt, hilja, Buffyk0604, EnglishVoice, Manna 1, twiceasbold, eskimogirl58, Kelli83, KerryH, mcc3654, birken, SugerSweetCutie, PinkAzn, toalli, TeffieS, Ashes-Of-Grey, _and _MsPaulCallwater_. *throws down chapter and bolts*

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Nine

Seth Clearwater was worn down.

He sat on his bed, his school bag in his lap and his side aching, thinking that Embry had gotten him good. It had been a rough night, but it had been an even rougher year, and Seth was relieved that Jake had just informed him that the Alpha was returning home. Thank god, because Seth was pretty sure he had botched Jake's Pack up enough that the Alpha should demote him. Maybe he could be the Pack water boy. Yeah…there probably wasn't much responsibility in that position.

Seth remembered the mixed feelings of pleasure and anticipation he had felt when his Alpha had pulled him aside, when Jake had told Seth he was leaving, and Seth was in charge of the Pack. Yes, Seth was Beta, but running a Pack was a big job, and it was more than Seth had ever done alone. The Beta had always been Jake's right hand man, his voice in the ear giving suggestions, his shoulder to lean against when Jake was worn from the burdens of leadership. But Jake had thought Seth was strong, strong enough that had Jake not phased, this Pack would have naturally been Seth's. He had thought Seth could do this without him.

Seth Clearwater wasn't so sure about that. Sometimes he thought Jake was the only reason any of them could do any of this.

He had done his best, but Jake had been gone a long time and no one had predicted the events that had occurred these last nine months since Jake had left. The Pack was damaged now, it was buckling from within, and it was easy to see how a single wolf could bring down the rest of them. Embry's…issues…were effecting them all, even the Beta, especially the Beta. It was supposed to be Seth's job to take care of Embry, but he just didn't know what to do anymore. Seth's shoulders, Sam and Paul, were each struggling with this too, in their own ways, and leaning on them wasn't an option. Sam was withdrawing, growing emotionless and detached like he always did. Paul was shredding himself from the inside out, but he was still trying to maintain the emotionless detachment both Jared and Paul had learned from so much time of running only with Sam.

The reality was that Sam was the last wolf that any of them should be patterning themselves after, the trauma caused by Sam's time in the wild as a confused solitary wolf was much deeper and much more encompassing then Sam ever let any of the younger wolves know. But Seth knew. And Jake knew. And they sometimes wondered if they were doing something wrong to have their wolves so damaged. But they loved them, oh how they loved them.

They would have loved Samantha too. Only after the fact did Seth realize how badly he had wanted her as their sister.

"You're going to be late for school, Seth," a female voice called from the hallway and Sue poked her head into Seth's room. She frowned when she saw him still sitting there. "Honey? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just off to a slow start, ma," Seth told her, finding one more smile somewhere inside to give her. "I'm going." His mother had had a rough time, and she deserved his smiles, his effort even when he was tired. Sue wasn't stupid though, and even if Seth had made the elders leave, it was very clear what had occurred after Billy had taken a sobbing Sue Clearwater home.

Sue's only son had limped in here right before dawn, and Seth had been sitting on the edge of his bed like this ever since, trying to come to terms with the decisions he had made and the consequence that were born from those decisions. It was a heavy burden to bear. The woman slipped into her son's bedroom and threaded her way around the clothes heaped on the floor. He smiled a touch bigger as she grimaced when something squished beneath her foot.

"You need to clean your room, Seth," Sue admonished, sitting down next to him. Seth gave her a lopsided grin as he looked down at her.

"Sorry ma," he chuckled. "I've been kind of busy saving the world. I'll try to squeeze it in with everything else."

"You're not Superman, Seth," Sue chided, wondering just when her little boy had grown so tall. He was a man now, close to going out in the world and doing bigger, more dangerous things than Jake and Seth already did, and she worried for him. She worried for him and she loved him. "And for the record, I am quite sure that Superman's aunt made him clean his room."

"That was Spiderman, ma," Seth chuckled, hefting his bag and waggling it at her. "Superman had the Kent's. Spiderman had Aunt May." Yes, Seth Clearwater still had a Spiderman book bag. It was the last one his father had ever bought him, and anyone who had a problem with it could keep their mouths shut. Plus Spiderman was cool.

As if reading his mind, Leah rolled through the doorway, leaning her hip against the jamb and crossing her arms over her chest. "Spiderman was a chump," she declared, running a hand through her short hair. Leah looked exhausted, and unhappy, but she still managed to shoot Seth a smirk. "Superman was too. Wonder Woman could have kicked both their asses."

"No way!" Seth shook his head vigorously. "Wonder Woman might, _might_, be able to take Superman, but Spiderman had his spidey senses and there's no stopping the webbing, Leels. There's just no stopping it."

"You're such a nerd," she snickered, ambling over and plopping down on his bed, draping her legs across both Seth's and her mother's laps. "Mom?"

"Hmm?" Sue was distracted and a little grossed out. Leah's feet were very dirty and Seth's room was very messy. Where had she gone wrong with these two?

"Superman, Spiderman, or Wonder Woman?" Seth prompted, and Sue suddenly laughed.

"I'm sorry, children," Sue decided, "but you're both wrong. It's Superman."

"Why?" they asked simultaneously, tilting their heads to the side and Sue smiled even bigger.

"Because no one has ever looked as good in spandex as Christopher Reeve. Now go. Leah, walk your brother to school."

"What?" Seth looked at her in mild horror. "Mom, I'm eighteen, I don't need to be _walked_. And I kind of run the whole reservation behind the scenes, you know."

"Yeah," Leah added, scrunching up her face. "That's so embarrassing, having to walk ugly here anywhere."

"Ugly? _Ugly_? I'll ugly _you_, sis," Seth declared, jumping to his feet. He picked Leah up by her legs and threw her over his shoulder, unconcerned as she punched and bit everything but his still sore side.

"Don't forget your book bag, honey," Sue reminded Seth, handing it to him, and Seth grinned at her, kissing her cheek.

"Thanks ma, I'll see you after school."

"Don't forget your book bag, Sethie Poo," Leah teased in a high pitched voice from Seth's shoulder. "Oh thank you mommy, what would I ever do as a grown man without my mommy and my Spiderman book bag? Mommy, I'll make sure to run _right_ home after school, mommy, like a good little boy—omph! Mother fu-"

"Whoops." Seth smirked down at the pile of sister that had hit the ground head first. "Sorry, Leels."

"Children," Sue admonished as Leah rubbed her head and stood up, glaring at a snickering Seth. "Go. Do as you're told, or I'm not cooking the rest of the week." They looked at her in disappointment and Sue pointed towards the front door.

Knowing when to cut her losses, Leah grabbed Seth by the ear and started marching him off to school, the Beta yelping and cursing behind her. Sue smiled and watched them go, thinking that it was nice when she had lost her whole world, she still had had two more worlds she loved just as much. Just like Leah, Sue had forgiven Seth almost as soon as last night had happened. There was nothing else they could do, because he was their third piece in their little family pie and they needed him more than he'd ever know. Glancing out Seth's window at the rundown house down the street, Sue wiped a tear from her eye before it ever fell. That poor child.

Sue had been friends with Melissa, more like sisters then cousins, and Sue was glad that Mel had never seen the levels that Samantha had been broken down to. Mel would have burned this town down in protecting her daughter, but sometimes it seemed like all Samantha had now was a lovesick boy and three people that Samantha didn't seem to realize were waiting for her. The girl just didn't seem to understand that she didn't have to live alone the way she did, and that there were those near her who cared about her. Last night had only reaffirmed the child's belief, and Sue was sure it would only serve to isolate Samantha even further away. It just wasn't fair.

In case anyone ever asked, Sue was pretty certain this little family was okay with having just one more piece.

* * *

"And then, _and then_," Cassie declared loudly in absolute disgust, "He says that he broke her! He _broke_ her! What a total jerk!"

The homeless man stared at her in confusion.

Cassie was double fisting ice cream cones, going back and forth between her 'only for emergencies or jerkoff non-boyfriends' flavor and vanilla. She had made sure to eat most of the vanilla cone until it was small and fragile looking, and found immense joy in squashing her much larger and much more aggressive chocolate cone against the vanilla one, making it cry for mercy. Oh yeah. No mercy, vanilla. No mercy for you.

She took another bite of vanilla, not licking because vanilla didn't deserve licking, it deserved small savage bites from sharp angry imprint teeth.

"And so of course I hung up," Cassie continued, biting the cone just because she could. "What was I supposed to say? You're my soul mate, but you're _evil_? Sorry buster, I signed up for a non-evil soul mate, so thanks but no thanks. Okay, to be fair, Paul's not evil, but he was _really_ mean to someone who didn't deserve it and I'm _so_ mad at him! But totally justified, right? Right?"

The homeless man wasn't sure what to say. He was very confused. It wasn't that he minded this attractive blonde girl sitting next to him and his box, stuffing ice cream down her throat as she ranted in Russian. And he appreciated that she had given him an ice cream cone too, but every so often she would pause and stare at him as if he was supposed to say something. He might have been homeless, and he might not have known Russian, but he _was_ a man and every man who'd ever lived with a woman knew what _that_ look meant. Agree or die. So he took a tentative lick of his cone and nodded uncertainly before wiping melted ice cream out of his beard.

"_Thank_ you!" Cassie declared, switching back into English, the way she had been when not divulging Pack secrets in her native tongue. "Even a perfect stranger agrees. Stupid vanilla. Steadfast dependableness and emotional stability my rear end, vanilla! Why don't I give _you_ a taste of dependability!" She squashed the chocolate cone into the now demolished vanilla cone. "How does it taste, Paul? How does it taste?" Then she took the vanilla cone's remains and crushed it beneath her booted heel, looking over at the man on the blacktop next to her. He had vanilla too.

The homeless man tightened his grip on his cone just a little tighter.

"I try to be supportive of people," Cassie declared, slipping into Russian. "I definitely try to support Paul and his whole pack thing. It's different from what I'm used to, but I still try. Yet sometimes it's like these guys live in their own little wolf world. And in wolf world you are expected to play by wolf world rules. Paul doesn't _force_ me to play by wolf world rules, but he makes it very clear that I'm lacking whatever it is he had expected me to be. And whatever, you know? I know what I am and what I'm not, and it's not Paul's fault that he only has part of the picture. But I'm trying, I really am, it's not like I _want_ to sleep with-hold on a sec," Cassie told the homeless man, passing him her ice cream cone and digging through her purse to find her cell phone.

"Hi, Paul," Cassie chirped into the phone brightly, her English heavily accented from going back and forth so much. "I still think you're a horrible jerk, so try back in another hour."

"Cass, can we please talk about this?" Paul rumbled unhappily into the phone. It was the fourth time they'd talked today, and each conversation had gone very similar to this one.

"Did you still do what you did last night?" Cassie asked pointedly, opening her wallet and pulling her identification cards and credit cards out, tucking them into her pants pocket as she spoke.

"…Yeah."

"Then no, Paul. I'm busy. I met a new friend and we're bonding, so call me back in another hour. If you're going to act like an animal, then you can go into timeout like one." Cassie snapped her phone closed and took her ice cream cone back. "What was I saying?"

The homeless man shook his head, because really he had no clue.

"And you know what really gets me?" Cassie mentioned, nudging the Paul vanilla cone remains with her toe. "Paul's not supportive of _me_. I want to go dancing with him? He either sends Collin and shoves me off with the other girls. I want to go explore the rez with him? Nope, I get locked in a cabin. _Locked_. In a _cabin_. He wanted me to come see him, to stay with him, and I did. I did even though it was stupid and dangerous for me, but it was important to him so I stayed. But he spent most of the time working and patrolling ,and even though I like a guy that has a good work ethic, if you ask me to come stay with you, it's understood that we spend some time together, right? And the day I left, he went all high and mighty on me about Roman, obviously he was spying on me, but he never asked about it. He never asked for my side, he just made his own observations and his own judgments and that was that. It's like he's already made the decisions he wants to about me, and even when we get closer, he's still holding onto those decisions. Honestly, for someone who's supposed to love me unconditionally, isn't it pretty crappy that he never seems to give me a chance?"

There was that look again, but this time the homeless guy had followed a little better, now at least understanding her words. His nod was much more vigorous. Cassie smiled, appreciative of the acknowledgment, and she handed him a napkin. Vanilla and brown beards never did work. Then she sighed, staring mournfully at the ice cream cone remains before her.

"But he always listens," Cassie admitted softly. "And even when I'm sure he has no idea what I'm saying, he still pays attention. He rarely asks me for explanations, and it makes me feel like he really doesn't want to know the real me, but then when I do open up to him, it's like that's what he's been wanting me to do all along. And when we're at his place and we sleep next to each other, he wakes up at least ten times a night and sits up, checking me and checking the room before lying back down and going to sleep. He watches out for me and he always finds reasons to touch my nasty feet. And when I'm sore he distracts me so I hurt less, and when he kisses me I think he forgets that he's decided not to want me…and…ugh! Stupid Paul!"

The vanilla cone got crushed a little further.

"What do you think?" Cassie asked the homeless man. "Am I being too harsh, or am I just another dumb girl blinded by affection for an overly attractive member of the opposite sex, drawn into a cult-like establishment by the seductive promise of a lifetime of companionship? Was I stupid? Did I drink the Kool-Aid?"

The homeless man liked Kool-Aid. He drank it when he was a kid. But that was before the girl, before the war, before the war left a man where a kid had once stood, although that man now leaned to the left from a well aimed artillery round. That was before a pat on the back, and a medal, and a sorry, and a girl who had never intended to wait around for a war anyway. That was before a thousand decisions that took him a thousand places and yet none of them left him prepared to be in a box on a corner, because sometimes banks said no even if you showed up to work on time and pretended the girl wasn't somewhere off in a bloody desert with the kid you used to be.

But some days were better than others. It wasn't often he was looked at with anything but disdain, and even longer since he'd had ice cream.

"Yeah, maybe I did drink the Kool-Aid. But really, who wouldn't? Who's going to turn down an option of a life spent being loved and being someone's whole world? And yeah, when free will is taken away about who you're supposed to love, that kind of sucks, but you know what? There are people who go their entire lives never having felt complete devotion from someone, who have never felt that devotion to another. Falling in love is wonderful and awful and can give you a whole new life or it can destroy you, but isn't real living both the good and the bad? Aren't we supposed to appreciate the good and contrast it to the bad, and then appreciate the good that much more? So isn't rejecting this kind of opportunity like saying, thank you world for giving me something amazing, but no thank you. If I can't pick my own amazing, then I refuse, because it's my life and my heart and I prefer to throw away amazing things because I didn't _ask_ for it."

Cassie paused for a breath, before saying softly, "I guess what really sucks is if it could have just been anything else, I would have forgiven him. Instantly. I respect him too much to hold a grudge. _Anything _elsewould have been okay…but it was this. Paul had to do the one thing that is just absolutely unacceptable to me. But am I right or wrong? Are there some things that can't be forgiven, or shouldn't be forgiven? Where does loyalty get replaced with blinkers? When is it love to support or more love to not support? I didn't…I didn't need him to be perfect. I just needed him not to hurt innocent people. That's the only thing I needed and now I just don't know. How about you?"

She was looking at him again, but the homeless man wasn't sure. So he shrugged.

"Yeah," Cassie agreed sadly. "Me too. Life's a bitch, huh?"

"Yeah," the homeless man agreed in a voice rusted from lack of use, and he finished his ice cream. It was really good. Cassie sighed and very carefully plucked her nearly untouched scoop of chocolate off her cone, using two fingers to delicately place it on top of his empty cone. Then she crushed her own cone beneath her heel and scooted the crumbs next to the destroyed vanilla cone.

"Is it better like this?" she asked him quietly, "Is it better to be crumbs together than to be cones apart? Do crumbs even count when there's so many cones still out there?"

But the homeless man didn't know. He stayed sadly silent, because he knew this girl and her ice cream probably had normal problems and good intentions, all of which would be gone when the chocolate melted and he pulled her down this alley where no one would see, one more bad decision for each of them. It was terrible, but a lot of things these days were terrible, and he needed to eat more than she needed to love a boy.

He wondered if she had been his girl if she would have waited.

Cassie smiled gently at the man and placed a hand against his face. She leaned in closer, then to the homeless man's utter shock, she kissed his dirty cheek as she pressed her now cash only wallet into his free hand.

"Who am I kidding?" Cassie chuckled sadly. "We're all crumbs, huh? Thanks for the talk."

And then she stood, and then she left while he was still staring at the money in his hand, more than he had seen in a very long time. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he tucked the wallet in his pocket and finished his ice cream. It wouldn't matter in the end because in a few hours the pair who had seen him get the money would pull _him_ down this alley, and he would think of Kool-Aid and pretty hazel eyes and girls that waited through wars because that was what the good ones did. He finally knew what to tell her, and that was that even if someone was crumbs, they still counted.

Unfortunately she'd have to figure it out herself.

* * *

When Embry reached the dojo after dropping his distraught girlfriend off at school, Paul was waiting for him.

The older wolf was seated on the front steps, his throat bandaged and his face expressionless. Embry had known Paul was there, how could he not? Paul's dueling scents of Pack and guilt were perceptible from blocks away. The large man been parked out in front of the dojo for a good three hours at that point, his elbows resting heavily on his knees and his head down. His cell phone was stuck in his back pocket, just in case his imprint called, just in case he was needed for something, or (not that this was likely) just in case Cassie was speaking to him again. The younger wolf had his hands stuffed in his pockets as he strode up, and Paul kept himself sitting, not out of rudeness. Being shorter than Emb gave Embry the advantage, and Paul was being very clear about something to the other man.

Paul had been wrong.

Embry stared at Paul for a moment, then shook his head and stepped past, jogging up the steps and unlocking the front door. He looked back over his shoulder.

"You coming in?" Embry grunted at Paul, and the older wolf stood up, silently following Embry inside. As he passed through the doorway, Paul noticed that Embry's sign was crooked, but Paul repressed the urge to push it back in place. Paul wasn't stupid. He wouldn't be touching anything of Embry's again for long time.

The dojo held that faint smell of sweat and cleaning supplies that most gyms did, although the mats were scrubbed clean and the cement floor around the mats were equally spotless. Embry took care of his business, but this was Sims's handiwork. That girl kept Embry's dojo so sparkling that the scent of cleaners was always stronger than sweat, and Paul doubted that Embry would ever tell her that in doing so, she was hampering Embry's sense of smell and likely giving him daily headaches. But it was something that made her feel good, like she was helping, and Paul was certain it was something Embry would never share with the girl he loved so deeply.

Just for the record, Paul felt like a dick.

Embry smelled…complicated. There was anger in there, fury really, but there was also sadness and disappointment and relief and pleasure. He smelled faintly of blood and significantly of Sims and Pack. Wordlessly Embry gathered the mail that Sims had left on the corner of his desk, plopping down heavily in his chair and thumbing through it to look for bills. Embry had a lot of bills, more than the rest of them, but business was picking up and mostly because of Sims's presence in the dojo. Some females were simply more comfortable taking their classes from other females, and popular on the rez or not, middle aged women felt less embarrassed exercising in front of Sims than Embry. Sims was a part of Embry's business now, and an important one at that.

Yeah. Still feeling the whole dick thing.

Paul stood behind Embry's desk, arms crossed and silent as Embry finished going through his mail. Then Embry swiveled in his chair and leaned backwards, looking up at Paul. Paul didn't shift uncomfortably. It wasn't his thing. He did however meet Embry's eyes, one of the last things he wanted to do these days. They were blessedly chocolate, completely free of the blackness that said the wolf was in control, and Paul relaxed ever so slightly. Embry still noticed and he grimaced.

"You know, it's not like I woke up one day and decided to go crazy, Paul," Embry said quietly. "I can't change it to make everyone feel better, although you have to know I would if I could. If I'm Pack, then you guys are going to have to start accepting this for what it is."

"No," Paul said flatly.

"No?" Embry raised an eyebrow and Paul frowned.

"No. I'm not going to sit by a watch you lose yourself more each day and not try everything I can think of to stop it."

"How noble of you," Embry snorted, glancing at the wall as the smell of anger quickly rose and then retreated. "Sims is okay, in case you're interested. She's upset, the whole convincing her you guys were going to kill her dad was the perfect way to push her to the edge, although if anyone had bothered to ask then I could have told you it wouldn't work. If you had just threatened to hurt him, she would have gotten furious the way you were hoping. Instead you almost broke her."

"Almost?" Paul asked softly, his worry sliding into his deep voice, and Embry matched his frown.

"Yeah. _Almost_. My girl's tough, tougher than even she gives herself credit for. Want to go up to Seattle and see what Cass's reaction would be?"

Paul had known that statement would be coming, but he would never be ready for it. For the wolves to willingly harm an imprint was unthinkable, and he was very aware now of the hypocriticalness of that way of thinking. To Embry, Sims was equal to the imprints in every way, deserving of every single ounce of protection they could give her. Seth had declared Sims an unofficial imprint, and Paul was very deeply engrained in Pack. He already viewed her as Pack because Seth had decided it was so. Still, Embry had threatened his imprint, and Paul's reaction couldn't be shoved down. He growled at the other wolf very softly, a warning that none of the Pack were stupid enough to ignore. Well, except for Embry. The younger man leaned forward, eyes locked on Paul's.

"Pisses you off, huh? Do you know what the difference between us is, Paul? The difference is that I want to gut myself for even _suggesting_ hurting your girl, and you actually brought yourself to hurt mine. It's funny, I was so upset when I thought that you weren't going to trust me to be alone with Cassie, and it never once occurred to me that I couldn't trust you guys with Sims. Quite literally it _never_ occurred to me. It won't happen again, though," Embry said flatly. "For the record, she keeps throwing up from the stress of yesterday. I'm kind of thinking I should kill you."

Embry wasn't joking. Paul nodded slightly.

"I was pretty sure that was how you'd feel," Paul said acceptingly. "I'd rather do this now, when Collin's at school. I'm not planning on fighting back, and I don't want him to see this."

The younger wolf looked at Paul for a long time, and then Embry actually barked a laugh. "You're a hundred percent serious, aren't you? Lord, Paul, just because you deserve it doesn't mean I'll do it. If anything, I won't for Collin. Did you know that kid sat outside your house all night long in case he had to protect you from me? I went there after I left the cliffs, and he actually was going to fight me, one on one, for you. Poor pup was trembling he was so scared."

"You're not fighting Collin, Embry," Paul stated in a voice as hard as steel. "You're _never_ fighting Collin."

Embry sighed and shook his head. "No, I'm probably not." He turned in his seat and pulled out his week's class schedule. It was obvious from his body language that was as much as Embry was planning on saying about the matter. Paul was confused.

"Embry?" Paul asked softly. "We're not okay, are we? You almost don't…you don't seem mad at me. You tore apart Seth and Sam, and the whole Pack knows you're gunning for Quil. But I was the worst, I did the most…I don't understand."

"Oh, I'm livid," Embry agreed. "But I feel sorry for you, man, and it's making it hard to want to _actually_ kill you. I should, but you've got enough problems."

Paul wasn't sure how to take that. Embry shot him a look, noticing his confusion. "Paul?" Embry asked, turning back around. "What are you planning on doing today?"

"This," Paul said tiredly. "If I'm alive at ten, then work. I'll patrol afterwards, here and then Seattle."

"And tomorrow?" Embry pressed, and Paul gave him a confused look.

"The same," he replied.

"And the next?"

"Still the same. What the hell are you trying to get at, Emb?"

"I ran into Jared on my way here," Embry informed Paul. "He was trying to bribe Kim into forgiving him with cinnamon rolls. Kim's barely speaking to him, and Emily's _not_ speaking to Sam. After Kim talked to Cassie, Kim told Jared that Cass has been making you call her so she can hang up on you every hour."

"Pretty much," Paul admitted, slightly plaintively.

"Your imprint's angry."

"Yeah." Angry might be an understatement. Cassie was furious, a state he was not used to from her. She was unhappy on a level that he could feel this far away, leaving him sickened and worried, and the combination was frustrating.

"Then what the hell are you doing here, man?" Embry asked, shaking his head. "Why the hell are you standing here trying to make amends with me when your imprint is so upset? Do you see Sam or Jared here?"

"No, but I-" Paul started but Embry cut him off.

"Do you want to know what I'm doing today and tomorrow and the next day? Absolutely everything I can to take care of my girl. Not work. Not Pack. Not bloody patrolling. I'm going to take care of Sims, and really, that's all I'm focused on now. She needs my time and attention to help her get past this. I'll deal with you and Quil and the rest of the Pack later, because Sims comes first. I know that's a strange concept to you, but we're hoping eventually you'll catch on before Cassie walks away from your stupid ass."

"Watch it, Embry," Paul rumbled warningly. He was still the dominant wolf here, and as his temper grew, he saw Embry's eyes darken slightly.

"Naw, I think I'll speak my mind," Embry decided. "I'm pretty sure a fight between us isn't going to go all that well for you, and that makes me more inclined to say what everyone else isn't."

"Meaning?" Paul raised an eyebrow.

"It's obvious you don't agree with how I treat Sims. True?"

"You've made her more important than Pack to you," Paul said flatly. "And you've made catering to her a higher priority than fixing whatever it is that's wrong, something that affects all of us. In those ways I don't agree."

"Paul, why is Cass so angry with you?" Embry shot back, seemingly changing the subject. When Paul glared at Embry and re-crossed his arms, Embry returned the glare. "You owe me after last night, man, so answer the fucking question. Or maybe we can go fight this shit out, either way I'm getting some piece of you today."

"Fine," Paul snapped. "Cass is angry because hurting people upsets her."

"Why?"

Paul gave Embry a strange look. "Because it just does, Emb. She's kind of sensitive about that stuff, it's one of her things."

"Yeah, but _why_?" Embry repeated. "Why is she sensitive about it?"

"I don't know," Paul shrugged. "I don't grill my imprint, because unlike you and Sims, I'm not trying to devour her and become her whole fucking universe."

Embry rolled his eyes at the comment, saying, "Fine. What's Cass's favorite color?"

"No clue," Paul growled, growing annoyed at the questioning. He felt each wolf's imprint was their own business, and as long as the rest of the pack protected and loved the imprints, they needed to stay out of the rest of it. But obviously Embry felt differently, and he ruthlessly plowed ahead.

"What's her favorite song?" Embry asked.

"I have no idea, probably some Russian thing," Paul snapped. "Why do you care?"

"What's her favorite food?"

"Ice cream. Or some Russian cake thing I can't pronounce."

"Why?"

"Cause she likes sweets? Embry, seriously, what the fuck are you trying to say?"

Embry leaned forward in his chair, growling lightly. "Paul, your imprint was a professional dancer and _had_ to keep her weight at a certain level, and those healthy eating habits don't go away instantly. But she stuffs junk food down her throat like it's the last thing she'll ever eat, like calories don't matter at all. Why?"

"I don't know," Paul stated. "Maybe because she couldn't eat it before?"

The younger wolf was shaking his head. "Not true. She told you she had a hard time keeping her weight up, so it doesn't make sense that she couldn't eat more calories."

"I don't know, Emb," Paul sighed in frustration, glancing around the dojo and trying to suppress his growing temper.

"Why does she wear boots every single day?"

Oh, Paul knew that one. "She says they're her trademark."

"I know, she told me that too, but why?"

The huge man let out a snarl. "Fuck, Embry! I don't know, okay? She just does. What are you, some goddamn shrink now?"

Embry gave Paul a searching look, ignoring his anger. "Paul, Cass has done enough damage to her legs from dancing that she can barely _walk_ half the time. She's done so much damage that I wouldn't take her into any of my normal classes because it's too much of a liability that she'll get hurt. Boots have to _kill_ her legs, and that's all she wears. Why?"

"I don't know," Paul said again, his voice growing quieter. "I never asked her."

"She's sweet and she's funny and she's a flirt, but Cass sleeps around way too much, Paul. Why? Stop growling, you _owe_ me asshole, you beat the hell out of my girlfriend's sense of trust last night, so answer the goddamn questions."

Paul didn't stop growling, but he did manage to stop trembling.

"I don't know, and I don't want to know," Paul snapped. "No self esteem, low confidence? Who knows? Maybe she's a nympho and she just really likes taking it from random strangers. And it's really fucking cool of you to throw that shit in my face, Emb. Thanks, man," Paul snarled sarcastically.

"I used to sleep around too," Embry said, looking as if he didn't feel bad one bit. "But then again I was lonely and my self esteem _was_ pretty shot to hell. But your imprint is strong and sure of herself, and always trying to be happier and healthier, and if you're buying that Everythingist bullshit she says then you're an idiot. A girl with confidence problems doesn't stand up for a stranger the way she stood up for me and Sims at the bonfire. She doesn't just walk away like she did. And she spent a whole week with you in your bed and never actually tried to seduce you or hook up with anyone else, so she's not a nympho. So why? Why does she sleep around?"

"I don't know. And I'm really over this. Make your point, Embry."

"My point is that you don't like how I treat Sims, but I can't stand the way you treat Cassie. She's your own imprint and you put us first every single time. And you know what? I am dangerous, and I am unpredictable, and you shouldn't have given a damn about hurting my feelings. _You never should have left her with me_."

Paul stared at Embry.

"I dropped a car on her, Paul, just because she surprised me. That's not okay, that will never be okay. But instead of beating my ass the way you should have, you let her blame herself and you locked her up in a fucking house! The first time you got to spend all day with her in La Push, and you spent it with us. Yeah, she was there too, but you don't even really like working on cars and there were plenty of us to fix it. You could have taken her around like she asked, you could have done a hundred things, but you put the rest of us first. I spend every second I get with Sims, because you know as well as I do that we never know if we're making it home each night. But Samantha is never going to doubt that she's my first and foremost priority, imprint or not. Cassie's your goddamn _afterthought_. Yeah, you feed her, make sure she's safe and all that, try to make her happy, but that's not an imprint. That's not a partner, Paul. That's a _pet_."

Paul opened his mouth to argue, but then snapped it shut again. Embry sighed and rubbed his face wearily.

"Listen, man. You want to know the real reason why I'm not mad at you? It's because you acted exactly the way you always do. You put Pack first, you put me first, and you didn't give a shit who got caught up in the crossfire. You did it because protecting me was what mattered to you. Sims wasn't Pack, so she didn't matter. And I'm not saying you wouldn't do anything to protect Cassie, but I doubt you would do it from anything other than duty and mild affection. And I bet duty would make you treat Sims the same as Cassie, now that Seth decided Sims is Pack. Things are really white or black with you, in or out. Sims was out."

"I was trying to help you, Embry," Paul growled. "It was wrong, but I still wish it would have worked.

Embry snorted. "That makes you one loyal son of a bitch, but it makes you a fucking heartless bastard. You're the muscle, Paul, Seth's enforcer. You're big and nasty and vicious but you're a sheep. You might not like how I think or what I do, but at least my thoughts are mine. You don't know how to think for yourself, and you've always been that way. Sam, Jake, Seth, they've always told you how, although Seth keeps trying to break you from that. But I'm mad at Quil because he knows better, he sees people as more than a sum of their parts, and that makes him actively hurting someone even worse. I kind of expect it from you, though, and I feel sorry for you, Paul."

Paul blinked, stunned.

The younger wolf shook his head. "I _really_ feel sorry for your poor imprint, because I think that girl adores you, and you crush her down a half dozen times a day and don't even know it. I think that she's running around acting like she's got to live life to its fullest before someone takes that away from her, and the one person that's supposed to get it doesn't even know what her favorite color is. But that's you, Paul and that's my point. I can't hate you for betraying me, because it's not betrayal for you to be exactly who you've always been."

Paul stood there, his face expressionless. Inside he was crushed.

"I'm not trying to be mean, but I don't care if I am," Embry said honestly. "You have no right to judge me, Paul, and you had no right to do what you did to my girl. But I guess you're off the hook. Sims is more important right now then being angry at you. Sims loves me, and I'm going to take care of her, and appreciate every fucking second I get with her. Cass loves you, but hey man, since we're cool, I guess that means you can go to work and go back to your life as normal. I'm sure Cass will get over it."

And with that, something changed.

Embry always had been good with sarcasm. But this, this feeling of complete despair from how Embry viewed him…Paul trembled, his eyes slipping closed. He understood this feeling. He understood what had changed, because Paul would feel the same if Sam or Seth or Jake thought this way about him. He was crushed because Embry was more dominant now, because Embry had bumped him. Embry disapproved of him, and the younger wolf was so strong that the weight of his disapproval hurt.

Paul swallowed several times, trying to regain his normal self, but then a low whine escaped his mouth. Embry stared at Paul in confusion, and then his face softened. "Shit man, did I just-? I didn't know…How do I ease off?" Embry had never been dominant enough to really affect any of the other wolves and in realizing that he was hurting Paul, his anger faded and his concern grew.

"Don't…it's fine…I'm fine," Paul murmured softly. Embry's disappointment was hitting Paul hard, but that was okay. It was what Embry felt so it was what Paul deserved. He had been wrong after all. Maybe he was wrong about a lot of things, but it was hard to know what to feel about what Embry had said right now. Instead he swallowed again.

"Paul?" Embry had stood up, the blackness shifting disturbingly in his eyes and Paul cringed despite himself. He didn't want to be submissive to this wolf, it was too dangerous and he didn't want that.

They weren't, the wolf informed Paul, although it was growling softly in its throat. Their Packmate was sick, and his strength rose and fell while theirs was constant. The wolf wasn't inclined to be submissive to this one either.

Embry's disappointment faded away abruptly, leaving behind just the dull pain of hurt left by a friend, a brother, who thought so little of you. Embry took a step back, his handsome features confused.

"Paul, what just happened?" Embry asked, looking upset. "What did I just do?"

"You bumped me, Embry. Then I bumped you back. Disconcerting, huh?" Paul shuddered and shook his head, feeling normalcy settling back into his bones. Embry however seemed greatly troubled. He dropped back into his seat and rubbed his hands over the back of his neck.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, words that had come more often from Embry's lips this last five months than all the times since Paul had known him.

"Emb, I don't…I don't know what to do anymore," Paul said softly. "I don't know how to help you. But I'm sorry, too. For Samantha."

Without waiting for an answer, Paul left, because even though he might be able to hold an entire Pack together, he didn't have a prayer of controlling Embry. Thinking that he was submissive to Emb had left Paul deeply disturbed, so much so that he was halfway to Sam's house before he even realized that he had gone there. He needed to talk to someone, anyone, but Cassie only snapped at him and hung up, and Sam and Emily were fighting. Again. Slumping against the woodpile outside Sam's house, Paul decided that Jake needed to come back. They couldn't do this without their Alpha anymore.

God forbid if Embry's wolf ever got strong enough that even Jacob couldn't tell him no.

* * *

The ice cream hadn't helped. And when ice cream wasn't enough, there was only one thing that a girl could do. Cassie went and found Baba.

Baba Wells was a strapping woman, nearly six feet tall with sharp features, steel grey hair pulled into a rigid bun, and eyes that could and often did dig holes beneath the Wells children's feet before they even had a chance to dig the holes themselves. Baba was about as grandmotherly in demeanor as a battle axe, at least to those she didn't know. However after having Cassie buy out her entire bakery tray of prianik medoviy four weeks running, a little hungry puppy desperate for honey cakes and her own countrymen, Baba had caved and invited her to coffee at the Wells' home. It was a formal affair, up until Ksanochka Ivanovna Fedorova, eldest daughter of Russian socialites so powerful that even Baba had heard of them, ditched coffee to spend the entire day giving makeovers to Baba's teenage granddaughters and convincing her only grandson to help teach the girls how to waltz.

Each time the poor boy had touched her hand, he had turned crimson, something the girls still teased Jonathan about mercilessly.

Poor Jonathan had never had a chance, but Baba only held it slightly against the tiny blonde. After all, their family owed Cassie much, and it was hard to dislike her, especially when she was miserably shoving prianik medoviy down her throat like they were potato chips. They were outside the Wells' home, both females seated at a small outdoor dining set near the driveway while Jonathan muttered and grumbled and poked his way around Cassie's car, trying to find fault in the work done on it.

"I can't believe you got this thing fixed in La Push of all places," Jonathan told Cassie chidingly from underneath the hood. "Why didn't you have me come get you? I could have had you towed and this fixed in a dealership."

"I thought they did a good job," Cassie defended the Pack loyally, although her words were mumbled from honey cakes.

"Eat slowly, Ksanochka, you'll choke," Baba ordered and Cassie gave her a sad little look.

"But they taste s'good, Baba."

"They'll taste better if eaten instead of inhaled. Is my food so disagreeable that you must pour it down your gullet like a farmer pouring slop to his hogs?" Baba hit Cassie with the patented Baba eyes, and Cassie sank down in her seat a little.

"No ma'am," Cassie replied around her mouthful before swallowing and attempting a winning smile. Baba just frowned and pulled the plate of various desserts away.

"Sit up, as well. Really child, you have better manners than this," Baba chided and Cassie did as she was told, crossing her legs perfectly and trying the winning smile again. Baba nodded approvingly and took a sip of coffee while Jonathan caught Cassie's eye and winked at her. Cassie smiled in return and held the smile for all of one minute before she slumped again and placed her head on her arms atop the table. Baba sighed and pushed the plate back, and Cassie's hand flopped around blindly until she found the edge of the plate. The shoveling began again, but this time hidden away from view.

"Alright child, what is wrong?"

"I messed up, Baba," Cassie said after she swallowed her mouthful of cake. "I met some people, some really good people, and I thought that maybe they were the kind of people that I wanted to be around, you know? And they wanted me around, and they treated me like I was special and important, and they treated each other like each other were special and important. And I thought, this is it. These people are my…what's the phrase, Jonathan?"

"Peeps. Homies. Crew."

"Yeah, that's it. These people are my those things. But I found out some stuff about them and it really sucks. They hurt someone deliberately, and even though I guess it could have been justified causes, I just…I just hate that. I hate that so much. They could be drunks, thieves, braggarts, liars, adulterers, anything really and I would try to see past it. I would try to find the good despite the bad, but this…I don't like people getting hurt, especially not what they did, especially not how they did it."

"What happened?" Baba asked and Cassie sighed.

"I can't tell you. I wish I could, but I can't. Maybe I could demo, though," Cassie picked up two of the lemon cookies that had so far remained untouched, one significantly bigger than the other. "Okay, so there's this smaller cookie, right? It's new to the plate of cookies. And it's maybe not the most perfect cookie, but it's a good cookie and it tries really hard to be a good cookie girlfriend to the bigger cookie. And they're happy, and they're cookies, and who doesn't like happy cookies?"

Baba had to smile at that. It was a severe smile, but a smile nonetheless.

Cassie put them on the plate and picked up a couple more lemon cookies, squishing them together and marching them over towards the first two. "But then here comes the bigger cookie's friends, and they don't think that the smaller cookie is good for the bigger cookie."

"This is the most retarded analogy ever," Jonathan decided and Cassie stuck her tongue out at him. Just to annoy her, Jonathan ambled over and ate the bigger cookie's friends while Cassie kicked his shins indignantly. Baba sent him to replace the bigger cookie's friends, although they ended up chocolate chip which kind of messed up the analogy, but Cassie was working with it.

"As I was saying before the _untimely demise_ of my display objects," she said, glaring at the young man who had plopped down next to her. "The cookie's friends didn't like the girlfriend cookie, but they thought that maybe they would like her more if she became a bigger cookie. So, in all his terrible horrible misguided wisdom, one of the cookies _ate_ her." To make her point, Cassie stuffed the smaller lemon cookie in her mouth and chewed viciously.

"He ate her?" Jonathan snickered and Baba stomped on his foot, making him yelp.

"Continue, Ksanochka. It is a very nice analogy."

"Thank you, Baba. As I was still saying, the cookies ate her. They ate her! They broke her into little cookie bits and they ate her." There was vigorous cookie destruction that occupied their attention until Cassie continued in a very sad voice. "And of course her cookie boyfriend is really mad," she marched the now alone lemon cookie angrily towards the chocolate chip cookies. "And the cookies all fight, and some of them get eaten too. Then the big mean bully cookies' girlfriends get mad at their cookies, and everyone's all crumbly. It's horrible."

"Indeed," Baba said understandingly, and Jonathan nicked one of the chocolate chip cookies. Cassie was pretty sure it was the Collin cookie, and she stared mournfully at Jonathan as he munched, a smirk on his face.

"Social strife tastes _delicious_," Jonathan informed her pertly and Cassie stuck her tongue out at him again.

"You're so mean," she hissed at the boy, before returning to her story. "And then the biggest bully cookie, the one with the yummiest chocolate chips, is obviously unhappy, and he keeps calling the prianik medoviy," Cassie marched one of the honey cakes towards the biggest chocolate chip cookie. "And she's really upset but it's not like she can tell the cookie why. And he thinks she's being mean and she is, but he hurt someone and that's just not okay with the prianik medoviy. Hold on a second."

Her phone was ringing, it was Paul again. "Cass? Can we talk, please? I know you're upset and it's frustrating me."

"Frustrating you? Frustrating _you_?" Cassie snapped into the phone. "The lemon cookie got eaten, Paul! How about her, huh? How about the other cookie girlfriends that don't want to be eaten too?"

Silence, then, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Prianik medoviy has some pride, Paul, and it's not going to follow you around, accepting cookie destruction as part of the norm! I won't tolerate it and I am not a puppy cookie. I am cake, Paul! _Cake_!"

"No seriously, Cassie. What the _hell_ are you talking about?"

"Apologize to the lemon cookie, Paul. Beg the lemon cookie's forgiveness and then maybe, _maybe_ I'll talk to you. I don't care if our crumbs are better together than apart. I _know_ people, Paul, people who could eat your lemon cookie hurting self for breakfast. So…there!"

"I can honestly say I have no idea what to do with that," Paul rumbled tiredly over the phone. "So I'm going to call back in another hour."

"Don't bother. I'll call you."

"Cass…"

"Goodbye Paul." Cassie snapped her phone closed and then glared at the chocolate chip cookie. It lasted for all of a minute, but then her eyes watered and she sniffed. "Stupid cookie."

"Gee, the asshole ended up being an asshole, big surprise," Jonathan muttered a little too loudly, and Baba shot him a look. But Jonathan wasn't cowed, eighteen years of looks had worn off on him somewhat. "I mean it! Cass, you always find these lowlifes and then yeah, of course they are going to let you down. If this cookie is that Paul guy, then good riddance. He's bad news." Jonathan tried to snag the Paul cookie and eat it, but Cassie rescued it, tucking both the cookie and the prianik medoviy close to her.

"Paul's not like that," she defended, but Jonathan hit her with a look that was very Baba-esque.

"Is Paul why you're mainlining sugar, destroying innocent baked goods, and looking about to cry?"

"Maybe…"

"Then good riddance." He stood up and headed back over to her car, which half the time felt more like his than hers, although Embry might have part ownership at this point.

Cassie sat up and glanced over at Jonathan sourly. "Okay, Mister I never like _anyone_ that Cassie spends time with."

"That's not true, I like Roman. He's a good guy. We even hung out when you went MIA for a week, and he was really worried. I think he's got a thing for you, Cass, and since you've succeeded in resisting my charms, I would have to give him the guy nod of approval." Jonathan winked at her again as he started scooting beneath her car. "Okay, seriously, why replace everything else and leave this part screwed up?"

"That was my fault," Cassie told him, once more defending the Pack. "I had to get back and I made them stop working. I tried to buy into The See Sound Lounge, but I was thwarted." Cassie frowned at the statement, looking unhappily at the table.

"Really?" Jonathan asked. "The club Roman works at? That would have been cool."

"I would say convenient more than cool, but the key word here is thwarted," Cassie sighed and picked at the cookie destruction she had caused. "It was too much to hope for anyway. Baba, is this the last of these?"

"You've had enough, child," Baba said a touch less sternly as Cassie stuffed her prianik medoviy self into her mouth. "Despite popular opinion, heartaches are not in fact healed with baked goods. They are healed with strong liquor and more attractive men."

"Baba!" Still halfway under the car, Jonathan looked appalled and Cassie choked on her cake, but Baba merely raised one heavy eyebrow.

"Remember that, Jonathan. Treat your women well, or they will find warmer bodies than yours. Now Ksanochka, which would you like to start with first? The liquor or the men? If you need some suggestions I have plenty of experiences to draw from-"

"No! No suggestions, Baba, and she gets quite enough of both," Jonathan declared in an outraged tone. "I can't believe…ugh. Okay, in an effort to save my eardrums from exploding I'm just going to say this despite how much it pains me. Cass, do you like asswipe? I mean _actually_ like him, not Tuesday night because I'm bored like him?"

"Asswipe?"

"Men don't call other men cookies, Cass," Jonathan smirked. "So do you actually like him?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I like him a lot. He's…he's not perfect, obviously," Cassie sighed softly. "But Paul listens to me…and he touches my feet. I don't even touch my feet. I'm being too harsh aren't I?"

"Sometimes the good guys are bad guys too," the young man informed her sagely. "No one's perfect. Everyone's got a little Green Ranger in them."

"Huh?"

"The Green Power Ranger. He was the one that was good then evil then good again."

"You're trying to relate this to cartoons, Jonathan?" Cassie cried, throwing half of the Seth cookie at Jonathan's head. Being the Beta cookie, he caused significant damage and left crumbs in Jonathan's hair. "You are _not_ taking this seriously enough!"

"You related it to _cookies_!" he yelled back, brushing off his shirt in annoyance. "How is that serious?"

"Because it just is, okay? You don't understand."

"I never understand you, Cass," Jonathan muttered, but then he shot her a smile and a wink. "Still love ya' though."

Baba smiled too when she saw the comment melt some of the unhappiness out of Cassie's eyes. She was pretty sure she could count on one hand the number of people who loved Cassie, and four of them lived under this roof. "Ksanochka, enough of the theatrics. Really, what has upset you so much?"

It took her a moment to answer, but then Cassie looked up at Baba with watery eyes. "He broke the fairy tale, Baba. And that's okay, I just wanted more time before he did. I just…I just never have enough time." She trailed off and glanced away.

The old woman lifted a hand to Cassie's face, giving her a gentle look. "No one ever has enough time, child. It is what we do with the time we have that matters."

Cassie knew. Oh how bitterly she knew.

She fell silent after that but stayed with the Wells for a while, listening to the sounds of family, of gentle grumbling and loving teasing. And after basking long enough in that to feel just how truly out of place she was, Cassie left. It was mid afternoon, and she wouldn't be welcome where she was tempted to go, but Cassie didn't want to go home. It was empty there, the contrast to Paul's world too drastic. Paul's world. Her fairytale and he had taken it from her. It was wrong to want him to keep it up, to keep her blind, but she loved him and she'd wanted to believe she loved a good man.

She had just wanted to believe in good men, love or no.

Deciding that she was done torturing herself with this today, Cassie drove to a bad side of town not too far from her hotel. The warehouse district had a few buildings that had been renovated into apartments, and Cassie ignored the drizzle of rain across her face as she parked in the back of one and walked around the building, knocking on a heavy steel door. When Roman answered, he was in a pair of pajama pants, although he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. It was partially true. He stared down at her and growled unhappily, his eyes snapping to the street behind her and quickly making a sweep before he grabbed her arm and jerked her inside, locking the metal door behind them and shoving her back to it.

"You shouldn't have come here, Ksanochka," Roman snarled at her in Russian. "What if you were followed, you stupid girl?"

In response she wrapped her arms around his neck and jerked his head down, crashing their lips together. He was furious, she could tell, but she didn't care. She was angry too, she had risked herself, stupidly risked herself because she was so invested in that stupid boy, and right now she needed to not think about Paul. Roman was the only one that had half a chance of accomplishing that.

"I'm _always_ followed, and I'm paying you a small fortune, Roman," she snarled back when he broke off the kiss and slammed both hands angrily against the door on either side of her head. One of them, the hand hidden behind the door when he had opened it, held a heavy handgun in it. That gun now rested mere inches from her face, but Cassie never flinched when she added, "So shut up and earn it."

He cursed at her, but that was normal. As big of a pain in Paul's ass as she was, Cassie was a much bigger one in Roman's. But unlike Paul, Roman did what he was told, because fifty thousand dollars for every month she wasn't dead or with the _bastard_ was a good enough motivation for doing what he was told.

Just like every other time, Roman kept the gun within hands reach, even when he threw her face down on the bed, her nails digging into the headboard for balance. His hands were familiar, they were the second ones that had ever touched her, and she knew what to expect. Cassie had liked living in Paul's world, had liked pretending she could stay there and hold his hand and love the hell out of him, but she was back in hers now. Paul's fairy tale world was an illusion, and little Red might sleep next to the big bad wolf without being eaten, but the path to grandma's house was long and there were worse things stalking these woods.

Roman's wasn't the body she wanted, hers wasn't either, but it was her choice to make. Even if she was crawling, she was still moving forward. She used to think Paul deserved better, and he obviously did too, but they were wrong. It wasn't what you deserved, it was what you made of what you were given and Cassie was determined to make the most of what she was given, even if it was wasted on someone too blinded by himself to notice…She wasn't going to think about Paul. She wasn't going to think about sex, or Roman, or guns, or _him_.

Smiling at the shallowness of it, Cassie closed her eyes and thought about shoes.

* * *

Samantha Carter had just bolted from the lunch yard in a panic, and Seth Clearwater was going after her.

It was the gossip that spread through the school like wildfire, a lover's quarrel (or better yet a lover's triangle), but they missed the most interesting part. The most interesting part was when Chancy Hoblin noticed Seth Clearwater going after a panicked Samantha Carter, having stepped out of her math teacher's room with a fresh lollipop in her mouth. Samantha Carter and Chancy Hoblin might have been new friends, but Chancy had always been known to be particularly loyal. So she may or may not have stuck her foot out with the intention of tripping said Clearwater, and he may or may not have been distracted enough for it to have worked. But an amused Chancy Hoblin had smirked impishly around her lolli, and a momentarily startled Seth Clearwater had flashed her a quick grin before dashing off.

It was the start of a beautiful thing…Not that anyone noticed.

* * *

Roman rolled off of the girl beneath him, his severe features slightly baffled as he stared up at the ceiling. Next to him Cassie sighed and wiggled a little, trying to make herself more comfortable as she moved off the sweat dampened area on Roman's bed. She held a hand up in front of her face, frowning in annoyance.

"So…," Roman asked in his softly accented voice, rubbing his face as Cassie growled a little. "Should I be apologizing to you, or should you be apologizing to me?"

"I broke a nail," she declared, waggling her fingers in front of Roman's eyes. "That really sucks."

"You didn't break it on me," Roman stated decidedly. "You just laid there like a lump…Ksanochka? Was I doing something wrong?" he wondered in confusion, and Cassie sighed again. Stupid Paul, she was so preoccupied with him that it was becoming impossible to keep up her normal routines.

"Roman, do you think that it's okay to forgive someone you really like something that you would never forgive someone you didn't like? I mean, if it's unforgiveable, that's non-negotiable, right?"

"Okay, I wasn't _that_ bad," he muttered in a slightly hurt tone, and she shot him a quick grin.

"Oh no, you were fine, it wasn't your fault," Cassie assured him, but then her face scrunched up into an expression of utter annoyance. "It was _Paul's_ fault. Stupid Paul eating the stupid cookie and now he's ruined sex for me too."

Roman sighed and rolled out of bed, his muscular body shown to good advantage as he pulled on a pair of dark denim jeans. "Ksanochka, you can barely stand sex as it is, and we both know it. You'd be just as happy living in a convent as you would anywhere else. You can't ruin something that you already dislike."

"That's not true, I'm much better about liking sex," Cassie countered, rolling over in Roman's bed and kicking her feet up. "I only fake it half the time. Remember when we first met?"

Roman shot her a small smirk. "Yes, and if you hadn't already shoved that much money down my throat, I would've said that I couldn't be paid enough to sleep with a scrawny girl who bawled the whole time."

"Ahh, but I don't cry at all anymore," she told him cheerfully. "And I'm two dozen ice cream cones away from growing some junk in my trunk. Isn't that much more pleasant? Whoever said that post traumatic stress disorder couldn't be cured by a hot guy with killer abs? They obviously have never met you. Thanks for that, by the way. Being a whore might be socially inappropriate, but it's _much_ more fun than being broken. Girl power, and all that jazz." She waggled her fist in the air above her head idly.

As he buttoned his jeans, Roman shot her a small rare smile. "You haven't broken yet, girl. If you had, I wouldn't be spending my waking hours with an itch between my shoulder blades."

"I'd scratch it, but your headboard broke my nail," Cassie informed him, peering sadly at her poor damaged digit. "And I haven't gotten you shot yet, have I, Rome? You worry too much. You're Vityaz, an expert in counter terrorism, and you were Spetsnaz for years. After all that special forces training I seriously doubt that you can't handle little old me, although I have it on good authority that I have good instincts. Did you know you can't kill a vampire with a car?"

"I _was_ Vityaz, Ksanochka," Roman shot her an amused look. "And as humbling as it is to say it, you and Afon have taken terrorizing each other to a whole new level that I'm not sure _can_ be countered. You do know you're going to get me killed, right?"

"Whitney Houston's bodyguard was much nicer to her," Cassie smirked at her nail. "He even carried her around a lot and she sang to him in thanks."

"I haul your drunken ass around enough, girl, and I've heard you sing. Please don't."

"So harsh," Cassie sighed before rolling over in the bed and sitting up. The heavy handgun that was never out of Roman's reach was now tucked in the back of his jeans like normal. "And you didn't answer my question."

Roman frowned, his severe features growing even darker. "The answer is no. Don't forgive him. Don't see him again, and never drive to La Push for a week by yourself knowing that I _can't_ call your cell phone without blowing my cover. I worried the hell out of Jonathan in trying to search you out, and I even had to flirt with his grandmother to obtain information. If it weren't for Garritt's website regarding 'Ksanochka's Quileute Hunk', I would have started to get a little nervous. I _don't_ like being nervous, Ksanochka."

"You flirted with Baba? Hmm. I never considered you two together, although once you get past the age factor, she is quite the woman."

The muscled bouncer shook his head in frustration and reached for a black tank shirt, one that left his arms bare. He had a small cross tattooed on his upper left bicep, one that made her usually feel better even when she was under him, her nails digging into the skin around it. Even in those early days where Cassie had forced Roman to force her through this, when she had poured enough money into his pockets to convince him to help her, even though they both knew it was a lost cause. It reminded her that there were good people out there along with all the people who were willing to be good for a price.

"Listen. I usually keep my mouth shut, because I know you know what you're doing, and realistically I didn't think we'd make it this long," he told her flatly. "But we made a plan, Ksanochka, and there were specifics to that plan. You spending days at a time hiding in La Push because of a crush was not part of the plan."

"Roman…"

"Are you in love with him?"

Cassie flinched and looked away, but he knew her too well. Cursing, Roman walked into the kitchen and over to the refrigerator, pulling himself out a beer. He opened it and drained half before wiping his mouth off. Then Roman turned serious eyes on Cassie, who had wrapped a blanket around herself and followed him. He uncapped a second beer and handed it to her.

"We had a deal, Ksanochka. I took this job against my better judgment because I like you. And what I like the most about you is that at the end of the day you're still here. Afon seems amused by your attempts to embarrass him, but we both know what'll happen if he thinks someone's actually caught your attention," Roman told her, but Cassie was shaking her head. "Girl, I don't care how big they grown them down in La Push, a bullet in the brain will still kill you."

"No," Cassie told him seriously. "You might not believe me, but Paul is probably the only person that Afon couldn't kill."

Roman growled in frustration. "Fine. But loverboy still lives on a reservation, and poor people are much easier to control than rich ones. Are you familiar with total socioeconomic collapse, Ksanochka? Buy interest in the businesses, make the people confident and dependent on your money, pull out and leave them with nothing, come back when they're starving and take everything. Have you ever seen an entire community take a proverbial cap in the knee? And for what, so you can cuddle up with this guy? You're putting this Paul at risk and you know better. If you want him, than have him, but if you do then keep that hotel door revolving or you might as well put a target on his back."

"A slut or nothing," Cassie whispered, shaking her head. "Everyone or no one."

"It was your choice," Roman reminded her, draining the second half of his beer. "Slut makes it easier for me to communicate with you, to get close without suspicion, but it's up to you if that's not what you want anymore. Afon still might get turned off enough by your behavior to lose interest, but it's a long shot. Your attempts at humiliation have only seemed to entertain him."

"Good thing I like sex," she smiled at Roman pertly, but her eyes were tired. Roman stepped forward and stroked a hand down her face gently, taking her untouched beer away and setting it on the counter.

"I know it's hard for you, girl, but you wanted this. You wanted more time, and you're paying me a lot of money to give that to you. To be honest, I didn't think we'd last this long, and it helps that Afon's been distracted back home. He's still got his men on you, though, and I know he's got them trying to find me. He's letting you pretend like you have a choice in the matter, but he's going to rip that away from you whenever he gets bored again or you mess up enough. And you're messing up. Right now I'd say we have a couple months left. If you keep going down to La Push and making it seem like you have something of importance there? I'd take that down to a few weeks. Realistically I'm going to do my job, but I'm not getting killed protecting you if you don't follow the plan."

Cassie wrapped her blanket tighter around her body. "I'm tired of it, Roman," she whispered. "I've been doing this so long…Sometimes I just don't care anymore. Let him come. I'd like to see Afon try to get me away from Paul, Paul would crush him."

"In a fight maybe. But think, girl. Do you know how easy it would be to collapse that man's entire world?" Roman told her, his voice gentling. "Afon makes a living from taking what others have worked for…what makes your Paul any different?"

"They wouldn't let that happen," Cassie insisted softly, but she wasn't so sure. The Pack was strong, but some change couldn't be stopped with teeth and claws. The wolves would defend their territory, but men with money meant jobs, and Afon was good at convincing good men to trust him. Her father could attest to that fact.

"The only reason he would go after La Push is to play with you. It's easy, Ksanochka. Just don't go anymore. Stick with the plan, keep yourself surrounded by strangers, but none for too long. I don't care if you're sleeping with me or not, I don't care if you're sleeping with them or not, just keep up the pretenses. As long as people think we're only occasional lovers they won't connect the dots. Or we can try to run, it might buy us a little more time."

"I'm almost out of money, Roman," Cassie gave him a slightly pained smile. "And trying to pay you with Afon's money would only bring him down on you. We wouldn't make it far. Maybe we should just toss in the towel and throw a party with what's left. I know a woman who bakes a wonderful pineapple cake."

Roman looked at her carefully, then he pulled her into his arms, hugging her gently. "You are the worst job I have ever had," he told her in his softly accented voice. "It's impressive."

"You're the only bodyguard I've ever had that Afon hasn't killed. It's equally impressive," she complemented him. Roman smiled against the top of Cassie's head, hugging her tighter when her breath hitched as she whispered, "He's gonna win isn't he?"

Roman was quiet for a long time, then he nodded. "Yeah, honey. He is."

"Well, then I should go back to the hotel and take a few more lovers just to stick it to him, huh?" Cassie joked lightly against his chest. "There's got to be a number that makes me so repulsive he won't want me anymore."

He didn't say yes or no, because he wasn't paid to lie to her. Roman was paid to protect her, and the truth was that he couldn't. Afon would always want her, and her time of freedom was almost over. Cassie shivered in his arms, and Roman sighed, pulling her blanket away gently. She was always cold, and she was always alone, even when surrounded by a hundred people. And he didn't want to get any closer to her than he was, not when he already knew the outcome of this, but Roman hated to see Cassie so worn and trying so hard not to be scared. Wordlessly he picked her up and carried her back into his bed, ignoring the risks. Roman was damn good at what he did. Maybe he _could_ figure out a way to do his job and not be dead when he was done. It was a long shot but stranger things had happened.

Ksanochka disliked sex, but it reminded her she was alive and she was making her own choices. And at least this time, Roman was able to convince her to enjoy it.

* * *

…They were going home. Their Pack needed the Alpha so they were going home. Jack was worried, his instincts thrumming as everything he was told Jack that he was following his Alpha into hell. But the Alpha was strong, stronger than any he had ever seen, and Jack trusted the Alpha to get him home. They never made it.

…The rain was sheeting against the hotel suite's windows, the whole world dark and flooding. Cassie watched the water streak down the glass, running her fingernail along the twisted path, watching drops gather and slide, faster and faster out of control. Always, always out of control.

…The Alpha fell. When the Alpha fell, the Beta fell with him, and like dominos they went down, one after another.

…Sensing the close passing of a brother, the two fighting Alphas paused and lifted bloodied muzzles to the sky.

...Jack was fighting, but it just wasn't enough. No matter how hard he tried, it had never ever been enough.

…The ants marched two by two, but when the clock struck one, the Beta was the only wolf standing.

…The blue-eyed child smiled sweetly and tugged the wolf's hand. "Daddy? Daddy, he didn't die."

..."Cassie? It's Kim. Something bad happened, and we need you in La Push for Paul."

…Always out of control, but Cass still smiled weakly when she got the call.

…Anything, _anything_ for him, even if it killed her.

…Because she loved him.


	11. Chapter 10

A/N Here's another one, finally. The chapter and I fought each other a lot, so sorry it took so long...As always, you guys are great with all the reviews! Thanks to_ InsanelyxLOUD, EnglishVoice, Fade to Blue, pinkshirt, Buffyk0604, SugarSweetCutie, KerryH, Megabitesz, MadToTheBone 1, TeffieS, LightIsPrecious, Ashes-Of-Grey, SammyMaria, beccamalfoy.13x, twiceasbold, mcc3654, StealthLiberal, SARAH DB, LucyPenny, Jacobleah, hilja, PinkAzn, Miss Bear, toalli, ally leigh, _and_ dixonmichiah _for the feedback!

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Ten

Leah was dying.

It was a horrible thing to think, but the proof was right in front of them, coating Sam's hands as the naked man desperately bent over the girl he used to love, the girl he still loved, trying to hold her throat together. All around them the bodies of the other Pack lay still, shredded beneath fangs and claws, broken and bloody. It had been panic that had made Paul's Pack fight this hard, panic at losing their Alpha, fear and rage rolled around them so tight that it had been nearly suffocating. They had fought because they didn't want to die, they didn't want their Packmates to die, and they didn't want their Alpha to die…it had been instinct that had guided them even more than their Beta. They had fought and killed for their own. Paul looked around him with sickened eyes as the downed Pack phased back to their original forms, lost brothers, culled wolves, human again only in death.

They never should have done this.

Glassy eyes stared blankly from torn bodies no different than theirs. Dark hair, russet skin, long lean muscles…them, but older, and now passing on to their next lives. Paul hoped that maybe it would be a better one, because no one deserved a life ended like this. Jake had watched a pup die months ago, had taken him into their Pack moments before so it wouldn't die alone, and so on some level Paul had known what to except. When they died, in their last remaining breaths they returned to their human forms, but it was a hard thing to see. Easier to kill leeches, who were shredded and burned. Much harder to do this. These…these were people. These could have been brothers, friends, Pack.

The wolf acknowledged Paul's grief. The true Pack had been scattered, but they themselves had broken that which should never have been broken. As it often was when Paul's wolf decide to speak, Paul didn't understand, and his attention was drawn to his own Pack, their injuries, their safety. None of Paul's Pack had died…yet.

When their sister phased back as well, her body instinctively acknowledging her nearness to passing, Sam let out a cry of grief so pained that it had rolled over them like water, forcing them down beneath its weight. Paul's belly pressed against the ground as the younger wolf shuddered, and Jared lifted his muzzle in a howl, echoing his former Alpha's hurt. On some level Sam would always be their Alpha. On some level they would always be the original three, older, tougher, more scarred and more able to hide those scars. If Leah died, then Sam would break, and loyalty to a man that held his secrets too close to his heart made Paul rise unsteadily to his feet. Seth was in the side of Paul's mind, exhausted, terrified of what he would find when he finally saw their Alpha. Paul couldn't really put words to it, but he pushed at Seth, bracing him, and he felt Seth's exhaustion soften, his fear grow more controllable. Seth needed to help the others.

Jared and Quil would go help Seth.

But Leah…

They would go help Seth. _Now_. Having no other choice, the two wolves cast miserable looks at Sam and Leah before slipping off into the trees. Then because his mind was reeling beneath the weight of too many emotions from too many Packmates, Paul phased back.

Being alone in his mind was almost worse. Alone Paul watched Sam sit up and pull Leah's slender body up into his arms, his hand still wrapped around her throat to stem the bleeding, trying futilely to hold torn flesh together. Her own eyes were growing glassy, but she wasn't gone, not yet. Leah was still dying though, and Sam was rocking her against his chest, her blood covering both them.

"Hang on, baby," Sam was whispering in a choked voice. "Please hang on, please…" Leah couldn't speak and her eyes were fluttering shut, but her hand weakly moved, dirt beneath broken fingernails, brushing against his side. It was a hell of a way to say goodbye between two people that had too much between them, and Sam let out another choked cry, shifting so that he could take her hand in his free one. Dirty broken fingernails, but he pressed them against his lips, kissing each one as if they were the most precious things in the world.

"Lee-lee, you can't leave me," Sam told her roughly, tears running down his scratched face. "You're still mad at me, remember? You pretend like you're not, but you are, and you can't leave me if you're still mad at me."

Leah could. She probably would, because she was still bleeding out, and even wolves only held so much.

The eldest wolf cursed and did the one thing that Paul had prayed that he wouldn't do. He raised red rimmed eyes to Paul, hoping against hope that Paul knew something that Sam didn't, that Paul could do something that Sam couldn't, that Paul could save Leah's life. Dammit. Paul closed his eyes, but then he opened them again. Maybe Paul _could_ save Leah's life.

"Sam, calm down," Paul said harshly, striding over and kneeling down next to the pair. "You're making it worse."

Sam snarled at him, but Paul hit him with a glare that clamped Sam's mouth shut.

"Sam, you're too highly ranked," Paul explained briskly. "The more upset you are, the more it carries over to the Pack. Right now Seth's having a rough time, and you're not helping. Leah's not going to die with us behind her, but if we fall even more apart, then she might. _Calm down, Sam_."

Another day Paul would get pummeled for actually ordering Sam around. Today he would watch the older man suck in several hard breathes and listen. Paul had an idea, they didn't have any way of tying a tourniquet, but they were strong. They had hands.

"Stand her up, Sam, and stop moving because you're only making her blood flow faster rocking her like that," Paul commanded, and they lifted Leah up enough that she was upright, deathly pale as Sam braced her against his torso. "Hold her neck here, higher by her chin." Sam did as he was told and Paul wrapped his fingers tightly around the base of her throat, trying to staunch the blood flow from either side of the wound. It seemed to help, but quickly Leah started turning dangerously blue. Paul eased off his hold as much as he dared.

"Don't kill me later for this, Leah," Paul muttered, plugging her nose and tipping her head back, slanting his lips over hers. Paul breathed deeply into her mouth, trying to get enough oxygen down into Leah's lungs that she didn't end up with brain damage, assuming she survived. Sam was trembling, but he seemed to be getting a hold of himself. He was keeping up a constant steady stream of words to Leah, and Paul pretended that he wasn't listening. Paul pretended that Sam didn't love Leah every bit as hard as he ever had, Paul pretended that the former Alpha wasn't telling Leah this in between his heavily uttered commands that she stay alive.

Paul pretended there wasn't a kinsman lying four feet from him, finishing dying from wounds Paul himself inflicted.

It took thirteen minutes for Leah's neck to clot enough for her to stop bleeding to death. Paul was pretty sure that she might have lasted fourteen, but fifteen and she would have been gone. As it was, the she-wolf's tanned skin was pasty white and her lips were bluish from a lack of sufficient oxygen. But her heart was still beating, albeit slowly, and she was alive. _Thank god, _she was still alive. With infinite care, Sam and Paul lowered her back to the ground, still propped up against Sam's shoulder. Paul left Sam there holding Leah, the older wolf unashamed of the tears in his eyes as he cradled her close. Adding this night to just another one of the many things they would never tell Emily, Paul turned to the carnage around him.

A wolf fight wasn't pretty. Men bruised and broke each other, but wolves tore each other to shreds. It was one thing to see an animal that way, but Paul stood in the midst of bodies, men, his ancestors that had been forced away from their Packs one after another. Instinct had driven them to cause this, but in the aftermath, Paul felt sickened. These weren't animals. They were people, they were brothers who had lost themselves to the fight between man and beast. They were kinsmen who had grown ill and had been banished. They were fathers and sons and brothers, lost to the Pack, lost to themselves. They hadn't been Paul's Pack, but they were Pack and Paul's own had butchered them. They were the Jareds and the Collins and the Sams and the Pauls of generations ago. They were humans and they had deserved better than this.

They were Embry, every single one of them.

The weight of that realization made Paul stagger, and then he was on his knees, retching. Retching because Embry liked Slim Jims and hated holes in his socks and when he was done being a wolf, he wanted to be a man, he wanted to be a _good_ man. Retching because Embry didn't mind Mondays but hated Tuesdays, because Embry wanted a home and a wife and a fleet of little girls calling him daddy, because Embry never could change a light bulb without breaking at least two bulbs first. Retching because Embry would _die_ for any of them and here Paul was in the middle of so much failure, so many Embry's lost.

Jake had told them not to come. Paul had thought that it had been to protect them, but now he wasn't so sure. Jake had spent the last nine months searching out the other Packs, but not out of fear. There was something driving Jake to find the wolves, to know them, to unite them. And even if the rest of Jake's Pack had been driven to kill these wolves, Jake wouldn't have wanted it. The same instincts that made Jake chase a kid across half the globe and keep a broken lone wolf at his side, those instincts told Jake to protect…Jake wanted to save Embry. Maybe Jake wanted to save these wolves too.

It was too late. Jake's Pack had killed every last one of them.

"Paul."

He wiped off his mouth and looked over at Sam. The older wolf had stood up, Leah in his arms. "I'm taking her to Seth and the others. You should come too," Sam said, but it wasn't an order. There was a tiredness in Sam's eyes, a pain that he rarely let slip through, and Paul knew that Sam was close to having had enough. He didn't want this life, it had taken so much from him already. It had taken nearly everything from him already. Sam was more dominant, but he didn't want this, and he would only do this as long as he had to. Well, there wasn't much any of them could do about that, except for Paul, that is.

"Be careful with her, Sam," Paul ordered briskly, once more regaining his feet. "And I know you won't want to, but when you get there, leave her with the others. Someone needs to scout for Rico or the Cullen's, and the others are too injured or too low in rank, so I'm not sending them out there alone. You need to do it. And send Jared back to me, there's something _we_ need to do. No one else comes over here until I say so." Paul watched the flash of surprise and indignation in Sam's eyes fade to something akin to relief. After a moment, Sam nodded and slipped off into the darkness.

Paul was still standing in the same spot, staring at the carnage around him when Jared's wolf form emerged from the background and padded over to his hip. They had been friends for a long time, and there was no shame in digging his fingers into Jared's fur as the huge wolf leaned against his side. Silently they stood until they couldn't avoid this any longer, and then finally Jared phased back.

"Where are we burying them?" Jared asked quietly, his handsome face etched in lines of resignation. They weren't so different, Jared and Paul, and just because Jared chose to not force his thoughts and opinions on Paul as much as the others, didn't mean they weren't similar thoughts and opinions. Jared would have buried them too, even without Paul's help.

"We bury them where they fell," Paul decided with a grimace. "They deserve that dignity, after everything else. You dig, I'll…" Do the hard part, were his unspoken words. Nodding despite the grimness of his task, Jared did as he was told, phasing back because it was easier to dig with paws than hands.

It would have been so easy to walk away from this, from what they had done, but these men were their brothers, and the tribe had failed them enough already. Paul lifted each torn body in his arms as if they had mattered as much as Leah did to Sam, as if each man was Embry, and in making himself think this way, Paul felt his heart contract tighter and tighter. He covered each by hand, and whispered the prayers of his people as he did. There was nothing he could bury with them, nothing to give as he sent them on their journeys, but Paul committed each face to memory even as he chanted softly. These were his brothers, these were Pack, and even unknown they were loved. As they worked, Jared echoed Paul's words quietly, and between the two of them they tried to give back something to the lives they had taken.

Was it better to die as a man or to live a life as a beast? Or was a life a life, and precious no matter how it was lived? For the first time in his entire life, Paul _needed_ his imprint. These were Cassie's questions, she would know. Paul was just…not ready for this. He needed her tiny hand in his to lead him down the path towards understanding. Because even if Paul didn't need a happy ending, he needed to understand the ending he was given, and Cassie…No. Tonight was hard enough without missing her too. So Paul shoved her away, the actuality of his imprint much too difficult to pile on top of the actuality of tonight.

Paul gritted his teeth and picked up another body, making himself accept that this one looked enough like Quil to be Quil's older brother. Making himself remember.

Even as they whispered their prayers in tandem, grief pulled them in different ways. Jared grew harder, his laughing eyes a little more flat then they had been before tonight. And Paul…Paul never really had known how to handle emotions such as heartsickness and remorse and regret. But some things you couldn't put in the box labeled "I did what I was told", because some things were just too large for that. In a few minutes, his Pack would need him. His Alpha needed his Beta, and Seth was completely distracted by that. The rest of the Pack would look to Paul for guidance, and now was the only time he was allowed to mourn this. Paul refused to let the magnitude of this night crush the spirits of his Pack later, so he sucked all those emotions inside in one tangled bundle and lost himself to them now, lost himself to the animalistic grief of himself and his wolf.

Deep inside, the wolf's mournful howl was echoed by hundreds of others. Their grief was not softened by the passage of time, their loss was not unacknowledged despite being mere memories of the wolf inside. Paul's wolf was forever tied to his Pack, and the separation of humans would never divide that which was meant to be one. And in that moment, as he laid the last of his brothers to rest, Paul heard the faintest beating of drums in his head, and the rise and fall of paws as the Pack raced against the wind.

Then the wolf cut him off. Paul wasn't ready for that yet.

* * *

Let it never be said that Cassie couldn't make an entrance.

Technically she was in the country on an O-1 Visa, being considered 'an individual with extraordinary ability or achievement in the arts' and therefore eligible to prance around the United States at will. She _wasn't_ however supposed to prance into the La Push pizza parlor and declare herself ready and willing to make the best unopened bottle of beer this side of the Pacific Ocean. There was paperwork involved, things to sign, permission to be granted to allow her to work, but Cass never had been good at the technicalities that bored her so she pranced around that too.

Plus, there was _no way_ she was letting Paul lose his job.

Paul's boss was a stumpy little man named Hams McCoy, and while Hams was fond of his staff and generally left them alone to run his business, he didn't like the fact that his newest bartender had once again gone missing. It was the next morning after Paul and the Pack had run down to Mexico to rescue their Alpha, and of course Paul hadn't shown up at the weekly staff meeting that was about to start. Kim had warned Shane that Cassie was coming to cover Paul's shift, and Shane had warned Casey that Cassie was coming to cover Paul's shift, but no one had had a chance to inform Hams of this. Therefore Hams was in the middle of an apoplectic fit in front of his staff, declaring that Paul was fired, when Cassie and her boots came strutting in the door.

Cassie didn't make a habit of wearing jeans, but she had been working on growing a honky tonk badonkadonk recently, and she figured a nice tight pair of Wranglers wouldn't hurt. And this was the country, and bars were country, so her equally tight t-shirt reading "Save a horse, ride the bartender" was completely appropriate. She might not have had much of a chest, but Cassie had one hell of a push up bra and her girls had a wolf's job to save. They were up to the challenge. Her cowboy hat was pink, her cowboy boots had sparkles, and her belt buckle was bigger than Shane's fist.

Poor Hams never had a chance.

Cassie put twenty-four years of experience into an utterly charming smile as she walked straight up to Hams and threw her arms around his neck. She planted the biggest kiss right on his weathered cheek and hugged him with a little wiggle of her torso that made the middle aged man go nearly scarlet.

"Hey, Boss," she beamed, wiping the lipstick off his face with a manicured fingertip. "Sorry I'm late, did I miss much?"

"Ummm…" Hams stuttered and she patted his cheek sweetly before turning around.

"Hi Shane, heya Casey," Cassie chirped at the two employees that she knew as she strutted her way past Hams and around the bar, positioning herself behind the counter and bouncing up and down on her heels. "Let's get this party started! Ooh, I like these coasters."

Shane was having a little trouble, it might have been the shirt, but Casey seemed to catch on faster. "Hams, didn't you know that Paul called in a replacement?" Casey mentioned quickly, throwing Cassie a quick smirk. "Gosh, I'm sorry, how dumb of me."

"Who-?" Hams stuttered as Cassie leaned on the bar, bending over just a touch too far, and she hit him with hazel eyes that taken stronger men down to their knees.

"I'm Cassie," she introduced herself brightly, sticking out her hand and waggling it vigorously until Hams felt obligated to step closer and take it. Closer was bad. He should have stayed further away.

"Cassie?" Hams was confused. "I'm sorry, Cassie, but I never hired you."

"Oh that's okay, I don't mind," Cassie chirped, as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a little white nametag. "I'm only the temporary Paul here. See?" She smiled at Hams and pointed to her nametag. It read 'Paul'.

Hams blinked.

"Gosh, Boss, can I call you Boss?" Cassie asked, her voice dropping as she suddenly sounded concerned. Her eyes widened slightly as she gazed up at him worriedly, "Or would you rather me say sir? Or I can call you Hams, if you'd like that better, Mr. McCoy, I always do like it when people call me Cassie…"

"No no, call me Hams, but you see Cassie, Paul can't just randomly call in whomever he wants when he doesn't feel like working-"

Cassie sniffed. Hams paused midsentence and then Cassie sniffed again. She leaned in closer and gave Hams a sad little look, and she may or may not have bitten her bottom lip. "You don't like me, do you, sir?" she asked softly.

"What? Oh, oh no, it's not that at all," Hams began stuttering again and Cassie blinked back tears as she glanced over at Shane.

"I was so excited too," she told Jared's brother, definitely biting her lip this time. Her eyes welled with unshed tears. "I drove all the way from Seattle because I was just so excited to work here for Paul. Should I not have come?" She turned wet eyes back to Hams. "I just liked it here so much when I visited before…I'm _so_ sorry, sir. It's just, Paul always talks so highly of the management and the staff here and I wanted to…I wanted…I had just hoped…"

Cassie sniffed again, a little louder, and her lip trembled. It was a very good tremble, and she almost had him. It wasn't hard. Cassie was terrified for Paul and the others, so thinking about that allowed real tears to roll slowly down her cheeks. Hams might have been a tough little man, but feminine tears left him in the same sort of uncomfortable panic it left many men in. He had given it his best, but when paired with the breasts and the jeans and the lip just a bit swollen from being bitten, Hams broke.

"Oh, don't cry, honey," he told her, squeezing her hand that she had left strategically still in his own. He was a good man, really, and good men didn't let pretty girls cry, not when they could do something about it. "I just didn't know. Now don't fret, I'm sure you'll do just fine until Paul comes back. I'm assuming you do have a bartender's license, right? And maybe a different shirt next time?" he added ruefully.

Cassie nodded up at him earnestly, her face filled with such overwhelming gratitude that Hams would still be feeling like a good man even when he crawled into bed that night. Giving her a fond little pat on the shoulder, Hams turned to the rest of his employees and informed them to be nice to Cassie, she was new, and she'd be covering for Paul. Before leaving he handed Cassie a packet of papers that made it legal for her to be employed, and Cassie rolled them up and stuck them in her back pocket, promising to get them finished immediately. The place emptied of just Casey and Shane, both of who burst out laughing the moment Hams shut the door.

"Oh, that was good," Casey snickered. "But Cass, please tell me you have at least _some_ idea of what you're doing."

"Umm, well, no. Not really," Cassie admitted. "But I brought a book! It's out in my car, though because I didn't want to give my cover away." She looked at both Shane and Casey hopefully. "Do you think everyone bought it?"

"Nope," Shane chuckled, swiping her hat and dropping it on his own head. "But Hams probably hasn't gotten laid in a year or more, so you played it good, girl."

"You played it trashy," Casey smirked as she leaned on the bar. "You better be careful, hon. Some of the boys round these parts are gonna take one look at that shirt and get the wrong idea."

"A little over the top?" Cassie asked regretfully and when Casey nodded, Cassie sighed. "Oh well, at least Paul didn't get fired, that's something at least."

"Where's he at, by the way?" Shane asked, bumping Casey's hip with his own and nearly sending her sprawling. "My brother's gone too, and Call's dojo is closed. It's like all the blue bloods bolted town."

"I don't know," Cassie said softly. "I was mad at him when he left, so I didn't know anything until he was gone."

"Don't worry, hon, he'll come back," Casey promised as the door opened. "That boy lives with his phone glued to his hip so he can talk to you. All the good one's always come back. Speaking of which…" Casey turned around and grinned up at the huge man walking through the door, two friends in tow. "Joseph Carter, you grumpy piece of shit, what're you doing here so early?"

Joseph Carter, huh? So this was Sims's father. He was massive, nearly as big as the wolves, although much of his bulk had gone softer with age. Joe gave Casey a light smack on the rear end, making her yelp and giggle, although Shane rolled his eyes and retreated moodily to the privacy of the food kitchen. Joe leaned over the bar, eyeing Cassie with interest. "Ride the bartender, huh?" he smirked, and Cassie flashed him a bright smile.

"Depends on the tip," she countered. "What can I get you?"

"What are you offering?" Joe rumbled suggestively, and Cassie continued to smile.

"Not a one night stand with my friend's father, but I probably could get you a beer, Mr. Carter," Cassie threw back, and Joe barked out a laugh.

"You got spunk, girl," he decided as he plopped down. "I like that. Although Sims ain't friends with no one, I don't think she even knows how. All that girl can figure out how to do is crawl beneath the town bastard. Gimme a Bud." Really? He talked like that about his own daughter? Thank goodness Cassie was used to mean people or she might have attacked Joe with her belt buckle.

Bud…Bud…Budweiser. That was a beer. And a beer was…was…was…

"It's in there, darlin'," Joe grinned at her, his friends grabbing up seats around him as he leaned over the bar and pointed at one of the built in coolers. Flashing a thankful smile, Cassie found the beer. Now a bottle opener. Opener…opener…open-

"It's right there, princess," Joe was grinning at her again, a combination of derisive amusement and appreciation that made Cassie feel just a touch dirtier than she had a few minutes ago.

"One beer coming up, courtesy of the replacement Paul," Cassie said with a pointed little smirk, plopping the beer down in front of Joe. "What else can I get you guys?"

And so began one of the longest days of Cassie's life. Apparently these men didn't like Paul and Paul's friends too much. Apparently they enjoyed spending their entire days drinking. Apparently the new bartender had a target plastered to her forehead, with a sign on her back stating she was here for Joe Carter's amusement. They called in everyone they knew and spent Cassie's whole shift running her ragged. They thought up every drink they could, and while they never made her make a new one or refused to pay no matter how bad it was, they succeeded in keeping her in a state of embarrassment that stretched so long that she was tempted to tell them all to shove it and walk out the door.

But she couldn't. Paul needed his job, and this was the only thing Cassie could do to help him. Of course he could be dead right now, but Cassie was pretty sure that if Paul died, she would too. She wasn't trying to be dramatic, but she just seemed to instinctively understand that whatever happened to Paul happened to her too. But wherever Paul was, he was holding himself together, because Cassie wasn't curled up in a corner bawling her eyes out. Her wolf was strong and that strength gave her strength. Not enough strength to punch Joe Carter in the face with any kind of results, although after a particularly harsh comment involving the assembled men's hope that Paul and his friends were lying dead in a ditch somewhere, she actually did try. It wasn't a very good punch, and it only earned her some laughter and more tips, but Cassie had given it her best effort.

Thank god for Casey, who despite her obvious attraction to the devil himself, seemed to have sympathy for Cassie catching Joe Carter's eye.

Casey handled most of the drink orders from the rest of the patrons, mostly soda and coffees for those normal folks who ate pizza at pizza parlors and then left. Not Joe Carter's crew. It was an eight hour shift, and _they didn't leave_. Shane's not so subtle suggestions that they find someone else to harass was merely laughed off, and Cassie's even less subtle suggestion that Paul wasn't going to be pleased when he found out they wouldn't leave her alone only spurred them on. But she stuck it out, taking her revenge by dumping enough alcohol down their throats to coax the maximum amount of tips out of them. Hams stopped by and seemed pleased that Cassie was so popular already, oblivious to her desperate looks at him for help. When Cassie's replacement finally walked in, Cassie made a little noise of relief and bailed, her tips tucked into her tight jeans and a silent scream on her lips.

Joe Carter decided to amble on outside after her, some of his friends in tow.

Brady decided that he didn't like that.

It had occurred to Cassie that the more strength Paul had, the more she seemed to have, so maybe it worked both ways. Maybe if she was calm and in control of her emotions, it would help Paul be calm and in control as well. So Cassie was dutifully trying to ignore Joe's drunken laughter as he called after her, saying, "Where you going, darlin'? The night's just started, and we ain't even seen you ride nothin' yet."

She had learned hours ago that insulting Joe back only egged him on, that playing along only egged him on, that saying nothing still egged him on but slightly less than the other two. It was an interesting thing for Cassie, because she knew this man was a single phone call away from never being a problem for anyone again, but Cassie didn't make those kinds of phone calls. She was an Everythingist, even if Joe Carter was lumped into that by default, although she was tempted to make a Carter clause in her Everythingist movement. The point being that Paul's job or not, if this jerk tried anything when she got to her car, she was going to run over him, and she was pretty sure he wouldn't hold up nearly as well as the vampire had.

"Aww, come on, princess, let's go have a little fun-" Joe cut off as suddenly there was a Brady between himself and Cassie. Brady was barefoot and shirtless, having just been patrolling, and he looked pissed. Beyond pissed. Sims had warned Cassie that Brady was being extra territorial, but it probably hadn't occurred to Sims that the reason would ever be her own father. No wonder Embry was hell bent on stealing Sims away for himself, because someone sure as heck needed to. No one should have to be around this man more than a minute or two a year.

"Move it kid," Joe growled, but Brady could growl better, and he did so while nose to nose with Sims's father.

"Don't worry, Brady, he's just drunk," Cassie said soothingly, reaching for Brady's arm and trying to tug him backwards. "Please, I didn't just put up with eight hours of crap to have you lose Paul's job for me in a bar fight. Brady, _please_."

Still growling, a trembling Brady allowed himself to be tugged backwards a step, but Joe took a step forward, because kid or not, Joe never minded a good fight. Immediately Brady went on the defensive, getting back in Joe's face. Again, thank god for Casey, who had also just gotten off her shift. The older woman slipped in between the two men, a dangerous thing that no woman should _ever_ do, the last time Cassie had tried it had earned her an accidental knuckle across the jaw.

"Baby, leave the kid alone," Casey purred, trying to distract Joe by hugging in on him. The impending fight had caught some attention and someone had let Shane know. Jared's brother took one look at Casey sandwiched in the middle and began striding that way, but Joe's friend, a man named Jennings, cut him off. Seeing things were about to get really out of hand, Cassie decided to be as stupid as Casey, even though she knew better. Cassie stepped in between the men as well, hugging Brady around his muscled waist, speaking so softly against his chest that only he would be able to hear.

"If Paul doesn't die, where is he going to work, Brady?" Cassie whispered sadly. "Please, can't we just go?"

If anything, Brady merely trembled even more, but Cassie found herself practically shoved into her car as Brady ordered her to drive to Embry's dojo. In her haste to do as she was told, Cassie ended up getting turned around, and finally pulled over to the side of the road, her hands gripping the steering wheel. It only took a moment for Brady to show up, and he gently pulled her from the driver's seat and put her in the passenger seat. As he drove her to Embry's where the other girls waited, Cassie sucked in a deep breath. Then she sucked in another one. Then another. Then another.

Just breathe. She would stay here, and everything would be okay. She had saved his job, but she wouldn't lose it either. She was a horrible bartender but she'd get better. She'd read her book and she'd get better, and then Paul would come home, and they would make up, and everything would be okay. And she'd tell him she was sorry, and he would still be trying to figure out lemon cookies, and he would kiss her, because his kisses were better than even breathing, which was what she needed to do now. Just breathe, Cassie. Paul was strong, and she was too.

Her phone rang, an international number, but Cassie hit the silence button. His world and hers. It was too hard to live in both at the same time, and Paul needed her focused and competent in his, not lost and broken in hers. It rang again and despite the repercussions, Cassie turned off her phone. A deep breath, steadying herself and maybe steadying her wolf too. It was all the help she could give.

Just breathe.

* * *

Chitakido's name quite literally translated as being a killer. Therefore it annoyed the Calgary Alpha greatly that Tupkuk just wouldn't die.

At some point even enemies need to step back and look at the situation realistically, and realistically the Saskatchewan Alpha was going to die, but not today. Did Chitakido like another Alpha killing his wolves and intruding on his territory? Of course not. But Tupkuk had at least offered Chitakido's bored Pack something of interest to do, and the older Alpha's pair of freakishly strong wolfborn had provided Calgary a very useful tool in training his men.

Chitakido might run a Pack of wolves, but more than that he ran a Pack of men that he regularly hired out as mercenaries, and any sort of combat situations were to be utilized and learned from. The wolfborn were masters at hit and run tactics, and Tupkuk himself was one tricky bastard. The two Alphas were covered in healing wounds and there wasn't a single one of Chitakido's Pack that hadn't been at least somewhat injured.

Killing the imprint just might have been taking it a touch too far.

"You know, for an old man, you are one hard son of a bitch to kill," the younger Alpha said admirably from his position against a redwood, throwing his elder a sharp grin as he kicked his foot against a downed tree limb. They had paused in their fight when they had felt the near passing of an Alpha, and they had ceased their fight completely at the actual passing of another. Chitakido wasn't nearly as old as Tupkuk, he couldn't differentiate between the loss of one Alpha and the loss of another, but he was pretty sure that the dead wolf wasn't La Push. He certainly hoped it wasn't La Push. Chitakido had _plans_ for La Push, and that Alpha dying beneath the teeth of another would only be a letdown. They had a date, even if La Push didn't know it yet, and Calgary never had liked being stood up.

Tupkuk managed to look only slightly apathetic as he perched on a rock nearby, his deeply tanned skin gleaming bronze beneath the setting sun. His face was expressionless, as if he was concentrating on something far away, and with annoyance Calgary hefted the tree limb in his hand, lobbing it at the other Alpha. Tupkuk caught it before it hit him, his face never rising from where he contemplated the earth, however his voice was soft and liquid.

"You take your powers from numbers," Tupkuk murmured as if speaking only to himself. "I take my power from myself and my wolfborn. It isn't likely that you and your stunted Pack of thugs would kill me, Chitakido. Possible, pup, but not likely."

"Ouch." The Calgary Alpha smirked, running a heavily tattooed hand through his hair. Their skin was extremely tough, and true tattoos had to be given using something much sharper than a needle. It was Calgary custom that their wolves tore a fang from each leech they killed, and that fang was filled with dye to stain the tattoos that now decorated their hides. No one emptied the fangs of venom first. That was part of the fun, feeling the burning into your veins, not knowing if this was one drop too much. It was a good custom, and it had rid Calgary of many weak wolves. Tupkuk wasn't the only Alpha who played with his wolves. Chitakido simply had more interesting games.

Chitakido was nearly, but not quite, two hundred years old. Young enough for Tupkuk to not differentiate much between Calgary and La Push as pups. Old enough to have nearly two-thirds of his body covered in dark swirls of ink.

"You seem distracted."

"La Push's female nearly died last night," Tupkuk said softly, but there was a touch of steel in his voice. "I'm considering relieving La Push of her, since he takes such poor care of her."

Chitakido was inclined to agree. He wasn't quite the sentimentalist that Tupkuk was, after all losing his own wolves rarely bothered him and the death of the imprint had been the emotional equivalent of scratching an annoying itch. But a female was different, and they were genetically engineered to not kill them off. Normally. Exceptions could always be made. "There's another one loose, and she's coming this way," he murmured, having caught the tug on his senses that said a she-wolf was within several hundred miles. "How about a deal, old man? I'll let you round her up and you leave La Push to me."

"I could always take them both," Tupkuk considered softly, and Calgary barked out a laugh.

"True, your boys would probably break at least one before they figured out how to use her," Chitakido chuckled. "I'm going to take them from you one day, by the way, when they grow tired of being reined in. They would enjoy my Pack much better, because after all, hunting down imprints shouldn't be an accident. They cause damage without even trying, and I have to admit, their potential for destruction turns me on."

For the first time in hours, the elder wolf looked straight at Calgary, his deep brown eyes thoughtful as he seemingly ignored the previous statement. "Yes, I believe I will take you up on your offer, Chitakido. Leave the approaching female alone, and you can have La Push's female."

Chitakido nodded, pleased. "I always did like a good bargain mid brawl. Should we continue our fight?"

"You have won," Tupkuk immediately ceded, his voice uncaring. "I am done playing with you, brother. Don't damage the female when you take her, or I'll take her from you. Either way, I'm unimpressed with the baby Alpha and his abandonment of our home. I will help him no more."

"You mean La Push is unguarded?" Chitakido's eyes gleamed bright at the thought, but then he smiled. No, it was no fun that way. As he had said before, he had plans for La Push, and it was no fun going hunting for something already wounded. It was much more fun hunting game at its prime. It made the kill so very much better.

Tupkuk never answered. He was already long gone.

* * *

"…Jared's gonna kill me."

"Jared's not gonna kill you, Brady."

"No really, Kim. He's gonna fucking kill me."

"Watch your mouth, Brady! We're in public!"

"Have you ever tried to watch your mouth, Kim? It's really _really_ difficult. Almost as much as surviving Jared's wrath, because he's going to fucking kill me."

"Brady!"

Doctor Misty Foster didn't even try to hide her smile as she paused outside the door of emergency room eight, checking over the chart tucked in the pocket outside. Kim Connweller, age twenty-one, no known allergies. Accident during a workout class, fell during kickboxing and twisted ankle. Ankle swelling, tenderness, bruising…Misty wasn't sure of the details, but unless this Brady guy deliberately knocked her over, he probably wasn't going to get killed. This was fairly routine.

Misty knocked lightly on the door and stuck her head in. "Hello," she said cheerfully, her eyes sweeping the room for any sort of mid-changing hospital gown indecency before stepping further in. She had learned that particular lesson long ago. "I hear someone's going to be killed."

There were five of them in the room, four young women and one young man, and all but one were obviously Quileute. She recognized Samantha Carter, that girl had been in a bad car accident down on the reservation a few months ago and Misty had done surgery to stop her from bleeding internally. One of the women had deep scars running down her face, and Misty wondered if anyone had bothered to suggest plastic surgery. It wasn't her specialty, but there was no reason the woman should have to live like that, unless money was an issue. The tiny girl in the corner appeared more Eastern Slavic than anything, and even though she looked tired beneath her piecey blonde bangs, she still managed to give Misty a bright smile. Odd, she looked familiar, and Misty was pretty sure her name wasn't Paul no matter what her name tag said.

"That would be me," a deep male voice said in despair, drawing Misty's attention. The young man, Brady, was standing next to the hospital bed, and he raised his hand with the hopeless expression of someone admitting that they had committed a serious felony. Misty's patient gave him an annoyed look and smacked his arm.

"No you're _not_, Brady. And I'm just fine, it's a freaking ankle, not the end of the world," she declared, but the movement jostled her foot, and Kim made a whining noise in her throat. Brady gave Misty a look of desperate appeal. Unable to stop herself, Misty went to the side of the bed, inserting herself between Kim and Brady, winking at Kim as she hummed lightly.

"Oh my, this looks bad," Misty stated solemnly. "It looks very _very_ bad. I'm afraid I'm going to have to run a battery of tests, Miss Connweller. I hope you have a high pain tolerance."

"A _what_ of tests?" Brady asked in horror as Misty very carefully lifted Kim's foot up and probed it lightly for any sign of breakage.

"A battery," Misty explained as she winked at Kim again, making sure her patient knew she was merely teasing the only male in the room. Kim smiled back between wincing, letting Misty know she knew the doctor wasn't being serious. "A battery of tests is where we take a patient who has had severe extremity trauma and we apply a series of strain tests to the site of injury. It can be quite a aggressive thing, depending upon how much pressure the injury can take, hence referring to it as a battery."

"_Oh my god_, Jared's gonna _destroy_ me..." Brady whimpered behind her shoulder. Someone snickered, and Misty eyed the females in the corner. Samantha's serious face was looking slightly amused at Brady's distress, while the other two were grinning openly. Little blonde Paul gave Misty a hidden thumbs up.

"If it helps, we put the patient under for the process, Brady, although there are significant risks to that as well," Misty continued teasing him, and when Brady made a deeply unhappy noise, she had sympathy and looked up at him, grinning broadly. Kim was grinning too and Brady flushed in embarrassment when he realized he'd been the butt of the joke. Then he cursed in annoyance and stomped over to Samantha and settled against the wall next to her, his arms crossed over his chest and a belligerent glare on his face. Samantha gave him a little smile that softened her features prettily, and as she patted Brady's arm, the young man flushed all over again.

"That was mean, Dr. Foster," the blonde girl named Paul smirked. "I like you."

"I'm only mean to the cute boys," Misty smiled and Brady's glare faded just a touch as she focused in on her patient. "So Miss Connweller, how did you injure your ankle the first time?"

"The first time?" Kim seemed surprised. "Well, the same as this time, I guess. And you can call me Kim, Dr. Foster. I was taking one of Sims's kickboxing classes and she tried to tell me my form was wrong, but I kept messing up. It was the same thing as before, when Embry kept telling me I was going to get hurt if I didn't do it right. I guess I'm just not that coordinated."

"Some of us aren't," Misty chuckled lightly as Samantha stood up a little straighter.

"She was doing a side kick and lost her balance," she stated. "I should have been paying closer attention." She must be Sims along with Samantha. Misty thought it an odd nickname, but decided not to comment.

"Kim should have been paying closer attention," the scarred woman snickered. "Martial arts are not for the scarily short attention spanned."

"Hey, muffin lady, back off!" Kim shot the scarred woman a little scrunched nosed glare. "I need the exercise and it's _your_ fault I'm getting fat, Emily. If you'd stop stuffing baked goods down my throat every day maybe I wouldn't _have_ to take the class!"

"I'd make another comment about how delicious Emily's muffins might be," the female Paul stated lightly. "But last time Paul took it the wrong way. Honestly, you'd think the man didn't appreciate a warm, soft, tasty-" Emily squeaked and clamped a hand over the female Paul's mouth, causing the blonde's eyes to sparkle in amusement.

"You all should be stuffed in a shoe box and hidden in my closet," Brady growled irritably and Samantha patted his arm again. Misty smiled briefly before returning to the task at hand.

"Well, all joking aside, Kim, I have some bad news. Whoever looked at your ankle last time either didn't diagnose it properly or you didn't take care of it properly. The current sprain is more severe than normal, it's called a high ankle sprain. Most sprains only affect the ligaments surrounding the ankle joint, but in your case, the sprain has injured the ligament that joins your shin bone and your fibula. It's called your sydesmotic ligament, and while normal x-rays won't show anything, stress view x-rays will show what I'm talking about. We need to take them because we need to know if the injury is stable or unstable."

Kim was looking a little worried now, they all were, and Brady moved back to her side to stand over her protectively.

"What does that mean?" Brady asked seriously, and Misty was tempted to give him a reassuring smile. But she was a good doctor and good doctors didn't lie to their patients just to make them feel better.

"Stable means a cast on her leg for about six weeks while the ligament heals," Misty said honestly. "Unstable means we need to do surgery to pin the fibula and tibia in place while the ligament heals, and then a cast. The screw stays in for three months before we either let it break or do surgery to remove it. Personally I prefer to remove it, because letting the screw break can cause complications later. Either way we need to take x-rays."

Misty stood up and finally gave the now serious room a reassuring little smile. "If it helps, I think the injury is stable, I just need some tests run to make sure. You might have to be here a while, guys."

Kim looked at Brady. Samantha and Emily and the female Paul looked at Brady. Brady closed his eyes as if in pain, but then he nodded. Odd, but interesting.

"I'll order the tests right away," she added as she left, thinking that maybe they were on a time crunch. And odd assortment of people, but you never knew what would bring people together these days. Misty's best friend was Carlisle Cullen after all.

It was a busy night in the hospital, and Misty's caseload was higher than normal from Dr. Cullen taking off again. But he was her mentor, and he had done a lot for her and her career, so she didn't complain. There had been a bit of a problem with her patient in room eight, something about a phone call in the hospital and Brady refusing to end the call until Kim was done speaking, despite the fact that the nurse repeatedly told him that cell phones weren't allowed. Apparently he had made the nurse so mad that she had stormed out, and he had glared at another nurse so angrily that the second one had cried. But they were a doctor short, and Misty was busy, so unless the group in room eight started massing seizing or sprouting chickens out of their heads, the nurses were just going to have to deal.

By the time she was handed Kim Connweller's stress views, Misty was feeling the weight of tiredness begin to rest across her shoulders. Pleased that she had good news for her patient, the tall young doctor headed back into Kim Connweller's room, her limp slightly more pronounced and a manila envelope in her hands. The group had clustered together on chairs in the corner near Kim's side, with Brady still standing protectively over them. Again it struck her as odd, especially considering that she had remembered where she had seen the blonde girl before while mid-enema with the patient three rooms down. The group all looked up at her expectantly, even Kim who had been given some painkillers from a nurse earlier.

"Good news, everyone," Misty said cheerfully, flipping on the x-ray display light and pinning the pictures of Kim's bones up for all of them to see. "While you can see the damage here, it looks like the injury is stable. We just need to get a cast on your leg, Kim and then you'll be free to go."

"Are you putting the cast on, doc?" Brady asked, his frown almost completely gone. In fact he looked downright relieved, more so than just hearing about Kim's leg should have left him. Actually all the bodies in the room looked relieved more than they normally would have been. "Not those nurses, right?"

Misty chuckled, shaking her head as she removed the x-rays. "You should know better than to alienate any nursing staff in a part of the country this small, Brady. You never know when you're going to be the one needing the sponge bath. And I was going to be headed home after this, but I suppose one cast won't kill me."

"You're cool, doc," Brady flashed her a sweet grin that made her blush just a touch more than she should from a kid grinning at her.

"I'm a doctor, Brady," Misty teased lightly, gathered the initial supplies she would need to set Kim's cast. "That means I'm inherently cool. Not as cool as Miss Ksanochka Fedorova here, but I try my best."

The blonde's head snapped up in surprise, and Misty winked at her, settling down to start wrapping soft cotton around Kim's leg.

"Sorry to break your cover, hon, but I've seen you dance in New York. It took me a while to recognize you, because I never expected to find a prima ballerina in Forks."

"You were a prima ballerina, Cassie?" Emily asked in surprise, and Cassie flushed under their attention. It wasn't a good flush, and the slight hardening of the girl's eyes made Misty wonder if she had said something wrong.

"They throw those titles out like nobody's business these days," Cassie replied cheerfully. "It's no big deal." Actually they didn't throw those titles out nearly at all anymore, but Misty knew when to shut her mouth. Unfortunately the others didn't. Misty soaked the fiberglass layer of the cast in water and watched Cassie deftly fend off questions and without really answering a thing, she excused herself to the bathroom, a smile still plastered on her face.

"What was she like?" Emily asked Misty curiously. "None of us have ever seen her dance."

Misty started applying the next layer of the cast, being as gentle as she could to not hurt Kim, who was still flinching despite the painkillers.

"She was…I'm not sure how to describe it," Misty admitted. "I'm not a ballet girl, I'd rather spend my night watching a football game and eating rare beef, but my mentor and his wife took me to the New York City Ballet, and she was a guest dancer. A _Guest Artist_, I think they called it. And I might not be the most cultured girl in the world, but I'm pretty sure the words amazing and beautiful wouldn't come close to doing her justice. Anyway, she seems uncomfortable with us discussing it, and perhaps I shouldn't have brought it up. Miss Carter, you were a bit rough for the wear the last time you were in here. No more car accidents I hope?"

Four people stared at her uncomfortably, and Misty sighed. Way to go, doc, two offended people in ten minutes. Sadly that wasn't even close to being a record for her. Misty could smile at a whole conference hall of people and still manage to offend half of them with her first hello. But one day…

One day she'd not open her mouth and insert her size ten foot every single time. One day, talking to someone else wouldn't be a damn minefield where she accidentally pissed off everyone in the room. One day there would be less staring and gaping, although it would probably take her accepting a vow of silence to accomplish that. Damn. And Esme still wondered why she never could have a date that lasted more than an hour and a half.

One sweet sweet day. For now, at least Misty could set a good cast.

* * *

It hadn't been particularly hard for Sam to find Rico. He just had to follow the sounds of cursing and the smell of leaking engine fuel, as it became increasingly clear that Rico just may actually have failed out of flight school. At the very least he hadn't graduated at the top of his class, if the partially broken Learjet in the middle of the desert was any indication.

It had been harder for Sam to find the Cullen's because there was only so much distance that Paul had allowed Sam to put between himself and the others. Sam probably could have broken the order if he had wanted to badly enough, but honestly, Sam just wanted a chance to sit back and do what he was told for once. Paul was given the impression that Sam would still tell him if he was being an idiot, but if Paul wanted to be third, then Sam wasn't fighting him. Jake would have to acknowledge it for it to be official, but unofficially Paul was stuck with it. If Sam hadn't been so overwhelmed with worry about Leah, he just might have thrown Paul a smug look every few seconds or so, and once Jake acknowledged the change in rank then there was no going back.

Unfortunately Jake wouldn't be acknowledging anything anytime soon.

The Alpha was pretty badly off, although he was mostly conscious. Seth had been able to force both Embry and Jack into a deep state of sleep to keep them from being in too much pain, but Jake was much too strong for Seth to do the same with the Alpha. So Seth had sat his vigil at Jake's side, the Alpha's head on his lap as Seth rubbed his ears. It was a little thing, but Jake's ears were healed where most of the rest of him wasn't, and very few things were as relaxing as having one's ears rubbed. It put the Alpha to sleep nearly as often as the pain woke him up, and it wasn't until Carlisle and his morphine showed up that the Alpha was given any sort of significant reprieve from the hurt.

Still, he was bad. Their skin was tough in human form and practically impenetrable in wolf form, making it nearly impossible to stitch them back together without a lot of muscle power on the part of the vampire and a lot of broken titanium needles. Part of the wound had closed without being cleaned, and part was still open to the air and needed to be cleaned. Clean water was impossible to find out here, and even under morphine, Carlisle's attempts at pouring straight alcohol into Jake's wounds to clean them nearly lost Jasper and Emmett limbs. Finally a frustrated Carlisle had to wrap up the Alpha's torso with bandages and simply hope that infection didn't set in.

It did, and it was two days later before a very sick Jake was lucid enough to phase human again. Seth had woken Embry and Jack up only long enough to get them to phase back so Carlisle could work on them, and while an exhausted Seth was able to put Embry right back out again, Jack refused the order and remained wolf, miserably staying by Jake's side and growling at the vampire anytime he came close. Too tired to fight the ancient wolf, Seth let Jack be, with the understanding that the whole Pack would be set on Jack if he kept the doctor from helping their Alpha.

Jack hadn't looked at any of them since.

Paul and Jared had removed the three wolves' bodies from where Seth, Collin, and Embry had made their kills, and while the Pack had watched them with haunted eyes, no one had asked and no one had followed. Therefore it was only between Paul and Jared what they did to the Alpha's body. It wasn't that Paul didn't feel the same sorrow for that one that he had for the others, but the wolf had been very clear. Make sure that Alpha was dead. Make _absolutely_ sure. So Paul had, and Jared hadn't questioned it.

It was Paul who had ordered Jared to help Rico try to fix the Learjet. It was Paul who searched out a near enough town to carry their wounded to and it was Paul who stole enough clothes from another town to clothe them before they did. It was Paul who stuffed down his pride and his honor and asked the Cullen's for money for rooms and food so he could feed and protect his wolves, and it was Paul who took what was left and snuck it back into the homes he had stolen clothing from in the next town over. And lastly it was Paul who stayed at Embry's side after Embry's wolf kept waking up and snarling like an injured cornered animal, terrifying the rest of the lower ranked wolves and convincing them that their brother was finally losing his mind.

Maybe he was, but Paul refused to admit defeat yet, because this battle had only strengthened his resolve. He _would_ take care of his own. Paul had simply stayed between the rest of the Pack and Embry, not knowing what else to do but be a buffer, and to keep reminding Embry's wolf that it was with Pack and it was safe and that Paul was there keeping it that way. So what if Embry woke up confused that Paul was in bed with him? There wasn't anyone else in the pack that could've been there instead, who could've survived if Embry's wolf had panicked and attacked, and with Seth sitting vigil on Jake and Sam sitting vigil on Leah, it only seemed right.

On the third day, Embry and Leah woke up. Something had been bothering Paul, something he needed to speak with Jared about, but it wasn't until he was sure of Embry and Leah's improving conditions that he was able to pull himself away from the injured members of his Pack. It was a bit of a trek out to where Jared and Rico were working on the jet, and Paul walked slowly to gather his thoughts. Therefore he was able to hear Jared and Rico speaking long before actually reaching them. It wasn't so much as speaking as it was arguing. Well, it wasn't so much as arguing as it was Rico goading Jared and Jared cursing at him.

When Kim wasn't around, Jared had quite the mouth on him.

Paul had just come into view when he heard Rico drawl to Jared lazily, "Pass me the thing." Jared looked up from the stack of parts that he had been working with and glared at the vampire, who was crouched underneath the jet, poking at exposed wires with mild curiosity.

"What thing?" Jared growled in a voice that said he was near to reaching his limits with the vampire. "There are a lot of things, man."

"The _thing_," Rico repeated in a patient voice, as if Jared was particularly slow. "The long thing."

"What long thing? It's a fucking airplane, leech, they're all long things," Jared growled in annoyance and tossed Rico a part. The vampire was working on the landing gear, which had become messed up upon bouncing too many times from the vampire's less than stellar emergency landing. Rico took the part, and without looking he lobbed it back at Jared, his vampire abilities making it too easy to conk the werewolf in the back of the head.

"Wrong part," Rico declared cheerfully as Jared cursed. "It's two inches longer than this. This is the _longish_ thing, and I needed the _long_ thing. You're not the brightest one of that bunch, are you?"

Jared snarled something about eating the vampire and Paul couldn't help but chuckle as he walked up, patting his friend on the shoulder. "You can't eat the leech, he's the pilot, Jare."

"Oh no, he isn't," Jared disagreed vehemently. "If you knew what I knew, Paul…this fucker isn't a pilot. He's a damn fraud! He watched a fucking video series and learned to fly that way, and then our dumb asses jumped in the plane with him!"

"You're shitting me," Paul stared at Rico, who merely tipped his hat and winked at them. Jared flipped him off then glanced back to Paul, his face twisted in annoyance.

"Nope," Jared promised as he starting digging through their most recent supply of parts. "And you want to know something, Paul? I'm gonna eat his fucking ass. Slowly. I'm gonna cover him with some goddamn hot sauce and barbeque him. I'm gonna cook him up real slow and juicy like and then I'm gonna make fucking pulled pork out of this lying country hill jack piece of shit. You hear that Rico? You're gonna die, mother fucker!"

The vampire let out a soft sigh and pulled his cowboy hat lower over his eyes. "You can't find the part, can you?"

"No," Jared muttered sourly and kicked the pile while Paul snickered and Rico brightened.

"Well, that's alrighty, I suppose," the vampire said good-naturedly. "It is time for my nap, after all."

"His nap?" Paul raised an eyebrow at Jared, who cursed and spat on the ground at their feet.

"Yeah," Jared snapped. "His _nap_. Because it's not like we left a single pup in La Push to guard our whole damn world. It's not like Kim's got an ankle sprain so bad she might need surgery, and there's a leech that keeps trying to break the borders, and Brady's so freaked that he's about to chew his own tail off. Oh, and the Saskatchewan Pack's just fucking lurking around, those freaky bastards. No, we have to take breaks every fucking three hours for _naptime_ for a fucking _vampire_ that can't fucking _sleep_!"

"He's a little on edge," Rico mentioned helpfully to Paul, settling against a tire and closing his eyes. "I always thought Jackie was high strung, but you boys make him seem downright calm. Be real sweet and wake me in an hour, alright fellas?"

And with that Rico pretended to go to sleep. He was very good at it, because even with Jared phased and stood right in his face, fangs bared and snarling horribly, Rico just smiled and made a soft snoring sound, only broken every so often by the words 'Leah' and 'floating device'. Deciding that listening to Rico's mumbled fantasies would only serve to get someone killed, Paul politely asked Jared to stop snarling at the leech and come talk to him. Still utterly annoyed, Jared phased back and agreed, padding after Paul barefoot in the scorching sands as he zipped up his jeans.

"What do you want?" Jared demanded, and Paul raised an eyebrow.

"What's got you all worked up?" Paul asked as he settled down on a large boulder. "And what was that shit about Kim and a leech breaking the borders?"

Jared was too wired to sit, so he paced back and forth, kicking sand. "Jasper and I ran to Torreón to get parts and I called Kim. She was in the damn hospital, man! Brady let her sprain her ankle!"

"Brady _let_ her?"

"He didn't stop her! He _knows_ how clumsy she is, and she decided to do one of Sims's classes, and no one stopped her. I ripped him a fucking new one."

"You're pissed at Brady for Kim being Kim?" Paul didn't think that was particularly fair, especially since Brady had been left with everything on his shoulders. Jared snarled, but under the weight of Paul's stare he finally slumped, his anger draining. Jared never had been good at being angry for long.

"No, I'm not pissed at that. I mean, I am. He shouldn't have let her get hurt. I'm just…"

"You're worried about him," Paul supplied softly. Jared grimaced and plopped down on the sand, snagging a little scorpion by the tail and dangling it morosely in front of his face. The scorpion, not used to such indignities, tried repeatedly to sting him, but Jared didn't pay any attention to its efforts.

"Yeah, I am. Brade's not doing good, Paul, he's a wreck. He's not sleeping and there's a leech that keeps circling the borders, almost like it's looking for something. But he can't run it off, not and protect the rez properly. And I can tell he's scared. He's trying to hide it, but that Saskatchewan Pack thing wasn't very long ago, and their Alpha somehow knew Jake was gone. What if Saskatchewan can tell that we're all gone? I'm about ready to make a break for it and run back there to help him."

"There's at least one more Pack between here and there, Jared, maybe more that Jake didn't flush out," Paul frowned. "You can't do that alone. Several of us maybe, but with Seth so focused on Jake, Embry needs both me and Sam here. I'm not sending you, even with Quil or Collin, that's suicide."

"And what if the other Pack's hit the rez? What'll happen to Brady? What about the girls? You can't seriously tell me you're not worried to hell about Cassie."

"Cass is in Seattle," Paul exhaled softly. "There's nothing I can do about that right now. You may be freaking out about Kim, but I need you to handle it, Jared. Quil's practically shutting down, he's so worried about Claire, but I don't have that option and neither do you. Now that Leah and Embry woke up-"

"They woke up? Are they okay?"

"Mostly. Emb's wolf still keeps jumping out and Leah can barely talk, but they are doing better."

Jared exhaled in relief, and let the scorpion try to sting his hand. It flinched as if the action had hurt its stinger, and it glared up suspiciously up at Jared, who continued to ignore it. "Good."

"Yeah," Paul agreed, "But Sam's slipping back into his guilt phase, because he's been more focused on Leah than Emily again, and right now you're the only completely functional wolf I'm working with right now. Take a look at us, Jare. It's just like old time, because if something else happens, you and I have to handle it. We're the first line of defense."

"Shit."

"Yeah. No shit."

Both men sat quietly, and then Jared ran a hand over the back of his neck. "You're really not worried about Cassie? How is that even possible?"

"It's not that I'm not worried about her. I'm just doing everything I can not to think about Cassie," Paul admitted honestly, and Jared gave him an incredulous look.

"That's cold, man, really fucking cold," Jared decided flatly. "She's your _imprint_. How do you just _not_ care?"

Paul was too tired to be offended. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, and looked at his friend. "It's not about not caring. It's about not being able to do a damn thing to change it. I guess I could be tearing my hair out over her, but all it would do is leave the Pack even more unsettled. I have to be ready for anything right now, and frothing at the mouth over my girl won't help."

"Cold," Jared repeated belligerently.

"Realistic," Paul countered with a shake of his head.

"Did the imprint not work with you, Paul?" Jared suddenly asked, but his words weren't accusing so much as they were concerned. "Did it not settle in right? Because I get the whole trying not to lose yourself in the imprint, but half the time you don't seem to even realize Cass is there. She's an…" Jared trailed off, seemingly unwilling to continue that sentence. Paul smiled slightly at Jared's too tardy attempt at tact.

"She's an afterthought? Yeah, Emb hit me with that one too." Jared waited while Paul tried to decide what to say. Then Paul's lips curved just a little more. "Did you know that I can repeat almost verbatim nearly everything she's ever said to me? I've never had a great memory, photographic or anything, but I remember almost everything she's ever said. And considering how much Cass talks, that's something. When I work, when there's nothing else to do, I repeat it all back in my head, and I try to figure out what she was saying. Not just what she was saying, but _why_ she was saying it, because no matter how much she talks, she almost always is saying something important to her. The humpty dumpty shit is still messing with me, but she wouldn't have said it if I wasn't supposed to know it. I spend almost all my time just trying to translate her."

"I didn't know that," Jared admitted.

"Did you know that she breathes too fast when she thinks too fast? And then she'll start bopping around like she's got way too much energy, only it's not energy, it's something else. I don't know what it is that pushes her into overdrive, but she's living fast when she wants to be living slowly. So no, I don't run after her and her craziness, and no, I don't let her drag me into it either. But eventually her breathing slows and her mind slows, and she finally stops running circles around me, and then guess what? My ass is still standing there, waiting for her. Did you know I will sit through an entire day of circles just for one minute of her being still? She's this whole other person, and that person is _so_ much better."

"I don't know man, it just kind of seems like you're trying to change her into someone you'd want more," Jared shrugged. "Like you are amused by her, and you like her, but that's as far as it goes."

"Cass is my imprint," Paul said softly. "But the girl you guys see, that's not my imprint. My imprint is buried down inside of her, and she's the most fucking amazing thing I've ever seen, but I've only seen glimpses. It's not that I don't care, and she's not an afterthought. I'm just waiting for her to figure out that she can be the actual her around me, and I'm not going to force that out of her. How am I supposed to fall in love with someone I've barely met? It's frustrating. Like for instance, she's so mad at me right now, but she won't even tell me why."

"That sounds familiar," Jared muttered, and Paul graced him with a smirk before continuing.

"Cass isn't trying to be difficult, but I don't think she has any idea of how not to protect herself in words. She's speaking in fucking code when she's not screaming in Russian, and I'm supposed to figure that shit out if I want to know anything beyond her current shoe choices. Like I don't get to know the real her unless I wade through all the bullshit and find the little clues she leaves behind. She'll say she likes ice cream despite what ice cream is, because it may be cold but at least it's sweet, and hot is better but will only take you so far if you're bitter too. If it didn't taste just as good melted, she might have to find a new dessert of choice."

Jared blinked.

"I know, right?" Paul grimaced. "She said that the night we went ice cream hunting for apple pie ice cream, and it took me days to figure out what she meant."

"Then you're one up on me," Jared admitted. "Kim usually speaks slowly when I'm supposed to understand something, which is annoying because I'm not dumb, but it's easier in the end for both of us."

"Cass was saying she wants to be happy, Jare. She wants to be sweet, but she wants to be warm too, and she doesn't want to be cold and bitter and closed off. She thinks she's melted ice cream, man."

"But melted ice cream's kind of ruined," Jared tipped his head to the side and thought about that.

"Yeah, I think so too. So I've been trying to find a way to make ice cream warm and sweet and still good, just to prove to her it doesn't have to be ruined. In the meantime, she'll hit me with a thousand other statements that are equally confusing, and I'm trying. I really am. She's just different than Kim, Jared. She's different from Emily and different from Sims. You guys smother your girls, make them tell you anything and everything, but Cass is an onion, man. If I force her to peel away all her layers, she's not going to have anything left. She's gotta learn to trust me enough to open up without making me work so damn hard for crumbs. I sometimes think something broke in her, but I don't know what, and I trying to show her that I'm not fast like the rest of her life. I'm slow and I'm consistent, and she doesn't have to try to cram us all in before the timer runs out. In three years, five years, ten years…whenever she's ready, she can let me in. And I'll be here for her, but until then I have a life that I need to keep living."

"You ever told her that?"

"Probably not," he admitted. "I'm kind of a dick."

Jared smirked and tossed the scorpion at Paul, who caught it and bounced it off his foot once, tossing it back as Jared asked, "You gonna hide behind that shit forever?"

"Probably not," Paul decided. "And you're kind of a dick too."

"Yeah, so Kim says. She's likes her doctor, by the way," Jared added, deciding for Paul's sake to change the subject. "Although the doctor is Cullen's protégé or some shit. Misty Foster. We should probably grill him on her later."

The name sounded familiar to Paul. "Isn't that the doc that worked on Sims?"

"Yeah," Jared nodded. "What did you want to talk to me about anyways?"

"You mean now that you're done grilling me about my imprint training procedures?"

"Now _that_ sounded like Cassie, so maybe you are listening to her. And you're still a dick, Paul, I don't care how much you outrank me these days. So, what did you want to talk about?"

This was the uncomfortable part, and Paul sat up a little straighter. It was something they didn't talk about. Really, why would they? No one really wanted to admit that they had a dual personality in their minds, and usually the wolf kept its thoughts private enough for only the human partner to hear. It was one of the very few things they could somewhat hide about themselves, and it was an unspoken rule that they never asked each other about it. Maybe that was why they had never caught Embry's problem in time. Maybe it was time they start talking. However it was an uncomfortable subject and Jared was the only person Paul could even consider having this conversation with.

"Listen, I'm not sure how to say this so I'm just going to put it out there," Paul took a deep breath. "I have an animal in my head that talks to me. How about you?"

Jared stared at Paul for a moment, and then he barked out a laugh. "Blunt, I like it." Still it took Jared a moment to reply. "Yeah, I've got one too, but it doesn't talk to me."

"Really?"

"Really. It said one thing to me one time. It was the first time I saw Kim after phasing. It said 'her', and I listened. It hasn't really felt the need to say anything since. It gives me emotions and soft pushes one way or another, but it doesn't talk to me."

"I have full conversations with mine," Paul muttered. "It argues with me when it thinks I'm blowing it."

"That's weird."

"No shit," Paul shook his head. "You really don't ever talk to yours?"

"No," Jared said. "I kind of always got the feeling it was okay with how I ran things, and when I imprinted, it softened the wolf almost completely out of my thoughts because it was so content. Kim makes the wolf side happy, and she makes me happy, and so there's really no reason to argue things out."

"My wolf is fine with how I run things in general, but it doesn't agree with how I run things with Cass. It wants to glue her to our side and live symbiotically in imprinted bliss. Sound familiar?"

"Fuck off, Paul."

Paul smirked. "Other than the imprint stuff, we agree. But it does talk to me sometimes, like the other night. Ummm…this is even weirder. Do you ever hear…drums?"

"Drums," Jared said skeptically, annoying Paul.

"Yeah," he growled. "Drums."

"Like, beat on the drums, play a song for the crazy man with talking wolves and drums in his head drums?"

"Fuck off, Jared."

This time Jared laughed, but he was shaking his head. "No man. I've never heard drums. But then again, you've always been getting stronger and I've never changed. I'm just the same as I've always been, no stronger and no weaker. But you keep growing, so maybe that had something to do with it. You're not like Embry though, if that's what you're worried about, you've been slowly growing stronger over the years, and Emb was like from zero to sixty in five point two. Seth did the same thing as you, only in bigger increases of strength. He's as strong as Jake was when Jake first took over everyone, and Jake's just getting crazy strong. But with everyone it's slower growth, not like Emb flipping a damn light switch. Watch Collin, by the way, he's hovering on the edge of bumping Quil, and I don't think either one realizes it. It might cause some drama."

"How can you even tell?" Paul asked, and Jared smirked when Paul added, "I can never tell until it's happened."

"Maybe it's my special wolfy super powers of observation," Jared joked. "Or maybe it's just because I'm not moving and everyone else is. But it's little things about who lets who walk in a room first, who lowers their gaze faster for who. Collin hasn't figured out he's not going to be a pup forever, and when he grows up a little, expect that kid to take off. We might both be taking orders from him eventually."

"That's a scary thought," Paul shuddered.

"His wolf is mean, Paul," Jared warned. "Pay attention, man, when we're fighting. Collin took out the dead Pack's third."

Paul stared.

"Pretty damn impressive, and he doesn't even know it. I'd suggest keeping it from him, because it'll only freak him out. He was running on autopilot out there, and the kid's not ready for this yet. Kind of like how Brady's not ready to be left alone like this yet. I guess that's why I ripped into him, just to remind him he's still a pup and there are others holding him accountable. He's doing his best, but he needs to know someone else is in control for now. They're just kids, Paul."

"When's the last time we were kids, Jare?" Paul asked softly, and Jared smiled.

"Remember over holiday break when Jake's sisters came to visit?" Jared asked. "And I tried to convince Rachel Black to sneak behind the school bleachers and give me a blow job?"

"And she punched you in the face?" Paul started snickering. "I never could figure out how you got rid of that black eye so fast."

"The day after that I phased, and I haven't been a kid since," Jared decided, setting the scorpion on the ground and sending it on its way. He stood up and winked at Paul. "Oh and don't tell Jake."

"Don't tell Jake what?" Paul chuckled, but then his eyes widened as Jared smirked proudly. "No shit, _Rachel Black_? She really did? You asshole, I had the biggest fucking crush on her, too."

"Yeah, be thankful you didn't imprint on her, man. Two of Billy's kids in the Pack are enough, thank you very much. They're both pains in the ass without throwing an imprinted sister into the mix. Plus, Cass is crazy, but at least she's interesting. Well, did this help? I'm assuming this conversation was to try and figure out more about Embry?"

"Yeah it was and not really," Paul groaned. "All I've learned is that I've got more in common with him than you, and I'm not particularly comforted by that fact."

Jared rested a hand on Paul's shoulder, reassuringly. "You should be, Paul, because I am. I'd rather have you trying to figure it out then most of the rest of us, because you're so much of a perfectionist that you won't give up. Now, I'm gonna go beat the hell out of a leech until we fix this piece of shit plane. If you need me, let me know."

As Jared walked away, Paul decided that he needed every single one of them.

"Oh, and by the way," Jared swung back around and grinned at Paul. "Cass isn't up in Seattle. She's working at the pizza place, saving your job, you goddamn idiot. I don't know if you consider that as her being your 'true imprint' or not, but you don't deserve her hot little ass. If she ever wants to leave your frigid non-existent bed and cuddle up with me and Kim instead, just let me know. I think the only one in this Pack who doesn't want to nail your girl is you, imprints included." He gave a pleasant little wave and was gone.

Okay, maybe Paul needed every single one of them, but he was pretty sure he could live without Jared. At least for a while.

* * *

The she-wolf had made a mistake.

It had barely been a week, but already she could tell that in her choice to head for the north instead of the south, she had made a very bad mistake. South might have held dangers that the mere thought of left her on her belly, quivering in the dirt, but north was filled with Packs and with them the Alphas. She had spent forty-three years trapped in her last Pack, the prized possession of a wolf gone mad, and even now her mind still screamed against every single moment spent with her former Alpha. If she had gone south, she would have been killed. Maybe that would have been better than this.

The she-wolf had made a mistake, because being surrounded by nothing but base emotions had left her mind weakened and slowed. She was a much stronger fighter then she had ever been, but her ability to reason had been sorely compromised. She had run to the north. The north was closing in all around her.

A long time ago she had run as one of two, her Alpha had been both her lover and her best friend. They had travelled as a mated pair, unable to accept the magnitude of what had happened to their people. One large Pack, cast out of their home, splintered and fragmented and turning on each other. Her mate had taken her and fled when he realized the other females were being killed off, and for a century and a half they had explored this world, lonely and alone. They had watched the strongest of them turn on each other, fighting for territory and dominance. They had watched brother kill brother, friend kill friend, wolf kill wolf.

It was a sad end to a once great Pack, and often the mated pair contemplated the difficult task of stopping phasing, so they could grow old and die, and not have to see their brothers suffer anymore. They had decided too late, they had wandered too far, they had been too weak to escape the culled Pack. The wolves had ripped her mate to shreds, the Alpha had taken her as his own, and his will had bent her into being unable to even contemplate escape. But now she was free, although it seemed that freedom wouldn't last long.

An Alpha was stalking her, and she knew which one.

The she-wolf never stopped trying to lose him, but she was defeated before she ever began. This Alpha was too strong, too highly ranked in the original first Pack, too skilled to kill and too powerful to ignore his commands. So she ran, remembering curling up by her mate's side, the warmth of his fur and the scent of his skin. She remembered the long cold nights of hunting elk in the Arctic, the heat of the sun of the southern sands. She remembered having well over a dozen sisters instead of only a few. She remembered the good days and the good times and the good life the invasion of the pale faces had brought to her people. She remembered.

Tupkuk remembered as well, matching the she-wolf side by side as they ran, gently herding her off her path with gentle bumps of his shoulder and light nips of his teeth. She turned and tried to fight, but he snapped at her heels and forced her to run again. Betrayal was a common theme these years, but it still cut just as deeply. The she-wolf had once trusted them all with her life, but now she trusted no one. Her smaller paws dug into the ground as she ran, but each attempt at losing him only seemed to amuse Tupkuk. They had once slept together by the fires of their people, before her mate, before this life. She had once allowed him her, had once run at his side. She had once loved him foolishly, as all the new females loved their Alphas and their Betas and the other highest ranking wolves, that instinctive pull to find the most worthy mate. Had he forgotten?

Of course not.

And yet he would do this? Steal her freedom against her will?

Of course not. But Chitakido would, and Tupkuk had sacrificed the younger she-wolf for her. Didn't that at least earn him a chance to run with her? After all, he had been awfully fond of that younger she-wolf. The older she-wolf smirked at that. Tupkuk always had liked them in their first fifty years, wild and exciting, like she had once been. Perhaps he would grow up one of these days. Perhaps, he agreed solemnly. Then he bumped her shoulder hard enough to send her rolling through the dirt, regaining her paws with a look of annoyance. Tupkuk's tongue lolled out of his mouth. Perhaps not.

Together they ran, this time the she-wolf allowing herself to be led from her path. She was old but he was older, and he knew the best places to hide. He would show her, and when she was ready, if she chose to join him and his wolfborn, she was welcome.

Choice. It had been a long time.

* * *

Jack was having a hard time adjusting to his new Pack. It was written all over his face, even as he sat swaying slightly, his body so full of alcohol that it would have dropped a lesser man. Or a lesser wolf. They were in a cantina near their god awful hotel, drinking the owner richer by every hour. Paul didn't want to know how much money they owed the Cullen's at this point. Jack looked utterly horrified at the fact that Leah was sitting on his leg, her feet kicked up on the table as she leaned back against his chest, staring at her cards.

"I don't have any," she told Seth in her still scratchy voice. The Beta had finally torn himself away from Jake, confident that the Alpha was no longer in danger of leaving Seth in a role he wasn't quite ready to take, and he had settled back into the role of no-longer-acting-Alpha Beta with utmost pleasure. And part of his role of being the no-longer-acting-Alpha Beta was to help integrate their newest Pack members into the group. Unfortunately Paul, the now-acting-Third Fourth was required to make sure Seth's integration suggestions were heeded and obeyed to their fullest effect. The Pack was pretty happy about their newest acquisition and they were trying their best to support Seth and make the ancient wolf feel welcome.

Poor Jack, they really should have stopped forcing him to drink a long time ago.

"Bullshit, Leels, I know you do," Seth was saying, giving his sister a suspicious look over the top of his cards.

"I don't have any threes, bedwetter boy," Leah smirked back, "So go fish."

"Leels, I know you're lying to me! And I'm not the one that pissed herself at Rachel Black's slumber party. Watch out Jack," Seth winked at the ancient wolf beneath Leah.

"There were extenuating circumstances, and I said go fucking _fish_, Seth!" Leah growled, snagging Jack's bottle of tequila and draining it before lobbing it at Seth's head.

Leah had been a little touchy since the fight, although she wasn't saying why, but throwing something at their Beta wasn't very nice and on her other side, Sam gave her a disapproving look. Jared caught the bottle because Seth was busy going fish and Quil had already dropped his forehead on the table, lamenting drunkenly that he was the worst imprinted wolf ever for missing Claire's birthday party. Jared rolled his eyes at Paul, who understood the feeling even as Paul passed Jack a fresh bottle. Jack gave him a look of even greater horror, and so Paul patted him on the shoulder briefly before twisting open the bottle. The Beta wanted Jack drunk, so drunk Jack would be.

"Hey guys, where's Embry?" Quil suddenly asked, slurring his words. "Shouldn't we be watching out for him?"

"Have we spent a single day in the past five months _not_ watching out for him, dumbass?" Leah countered, a comment to which Paul had to agree. It seemed that until this last week, the Pack had focused on nothing else.

"He's building up the courage to go talk to Jake," Seth said simply, and he left it at that. But they all knew what that could mean, and hope filled Paul. Hope that maybe their Alpha could do what the rest of them had failed so badly at.

"Umm, hey guys? Better question, where's Collin?"

Quil must really be drunk, if he was asking that. Paul grinned. "Hey Quil? Kick your right foot really hard." The younger wolf seemed confused but did as he was told, and the result was a yelp and a curse. Quil drunkenly leaned over so he could see under the table.

"Hey, Collin," Quil grinned stupidly. "Whatcha doin' down there?"

"Shhhhsh!" Collin hissed, and Paul felt the pup's shoulder bump his own knee. "You'll give away my cover man!"

"Collin has learned a very valuable lesson in international relations this trip," Seth declared casually. "Hey Leels, gimme your nines."

"You can't ask it like that, Seth. You have to say it right," she declared, stealing another drink from Jack's bottle as she mimicked Seth's voice in a pitch slightly too high. "Leah, do you have any nines? Why no Seth, despite my absolutely stunning beauty and devastatingly complex mind, I do not in fact have any nines. But what will I do, Leels? Oh no, what will I _do_?"

"Leah's getting mean, so she's cut off," Seth chuckled. "Jack?" Gratefully, Jack snagged the bottle away and quickly handed it to Paul, who grinned devilishly and handed it back.

"Why is Collin under the table?" Drunken Quil still hadn't figured it out, so Paul helped him.

"Collin, in all his wonderful stupidity thought that out little vacation here would be a good time to get cozy with the locals in this one horse town. Only he got cozy with too many. Three of them, right?"

"Four," a little voice corrected from beneath the heavy wooden plank table. Sam rolled his eyes as Jared snickered, and Paul gave Collin a nice knee in the shoulder.

"Four of them. Two of them being sisters, and all of them being related, and now he's got a very large and very angry extended family after him, plus the anger of several locals who had failed to go where Collin went. Apparently this place only has four single women and one whore to occupy the entire town's male interest. You didn't buy the whore did you Collin?"

"…"

"_Collin_?" Paul suddenly growled, reaching beneath the table and grabbing Collin by the scruff of the neck and pulling the pup out from under the table. He shook him hard twice. "You didn't buy the whore, did you Collin?" Collin looked at him guiltily, and Paul let out an angry snarl. "Oh, I'm gonna fucking murder you!"

"It was a freebee," Collin cried in his defense. "It doesn't count! It doesn't count!"

"That's so nasty," Jared started laughing as Leah and Seth gave Collin matching disgusted looks. Sam just sighed and drank his beer. "Collin, you know that just because we're disease resistant, that we still have standards, right? You're gonna end up with crabs or some shit, and my ass is _not_ patrolling with your skanky one if that happens."

Quil, who was much too drunk, began snickering as he added, "Yeah, Collin, why do you think Paul's not sleeping with Cassie? Have some fucking class, man."

The table went very very quiet, as Paul turned and looked at Quil. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Paul asked softly as Jared cursed under his breath. Quil, being ignorant of the tone in Paul's voice, continued chuckling.

"Come on, man, you know what I mean. Cause Cass is kind of a ho, too," Quil kept joking. "Hey Collin, maybe you and Paul can double date."

It wasn't impressive that Jared grabbed Collin moments before Collin managed to slam his fist into a very surprised looking Quil's jaw. It was impressive that an equally drunken Jack still managed to get Leah out of his lap and into Sam's in time to grab a violently shaking Paul as he lunged over the table at Quil. Jack kept moving, shoving Paul out of the bar, and by the time Paul furiously forced his way past him, Paul had Jared and Sam to fight past as well. Collin had been given full rein to pound on Quil for awhile, since unlike Paul, Collin probably wouldn't kill Quil, and Sam and Jared took over for Jack, dragging him out of town and into the privacy of the desert so Paul could phase and shred cactus plants instead of Quil's dumb ass.

Seth and Leah continued to play Go Fish.

Three years ago he would have been at this for hours. But Paul was a different man now than he was then and after five minutes he managed to pull himself together and phase back. He was still cursing viciously as Jared tossed him their only spare pair of pants.

"That piece of shit motherfucker better watch his fucking mouth or I'm gonna fucking _filet_ him," Paul snarled, and he growled even louder when he saw Sam and Jared exchange an amused look. "_What_?"

"Kinda like old times, huh Sam?" Jared smiled and Paul flipped them both off as Sam murmured agreement. "Actually, it's kind of nice seeing you stick up for her, Paul. Honestly man, I wasn't really sure you would."

"You're fucking kidding me," Paul snapped. "Cass is my _imprint_, and you think I'm not gonna stick up for her? Are you guys fucking insane?"

Sam gave Paul a chiding look. "Paul, you never even called her this whole time we were gone, and you're the only imprinted wolf that didn't."

If they were trying to piss him off enough to phase again, they were close. Paul ground his teeth together. "I didn't call her because it would have made this harder. Because unlike you two mopey fuckers and that drunken idiot in there, I actually have a fucking job to do."

They just smiled, and Paul rose to his feet, buttoning the pants with a glare. "You know what? You all can both go screw yourselves."

"I'm screwing Kim," Jared declared cheerfully.

"I'm screwing Emily," Sam added with a smirk. Then they both looked at him pointedly. Now Paul had been under a lot of pressure, and he didn't really appreciate them taking now to push the whole Cassie issue. But he was pissed, and when he was pissed, Paul had a tendency to yell, so he wasn't really prepared for what came out of his mouth.

"Yeah well assholes, I'm _not_ screwing Cass cause she's my _whole fucking universe_ and she deserves a whole lot better than me. And Kim deserves better than you, Jared, because you used to treat her like _shit_ back in the day, and Emily sure as _hell_ deserves better than you, Sam, because you never called _her_ until Leah started making googly eyes back at Jake again. So both of you _can_ go screw yourselves and stay out of my goddamn business! Just leave me alone and leave my girl alone, because we don't need any of you fuckers anyway!"

Paul sucked in a deep breath, and then let it go as guilt washed through him. He never should have said that, he never should have throwing that shit back in their faces. Oddly enough, neither Jared nor Sam looked angry. Instead Sam walked over to Paul and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not nearly as hard as you're making it, Paul," Sam said quietly. "It's not a choice of loyalty, her versus us. It's not a choice of self preservation, her versus who you've always been. It's just her. When you can accept that, it'll make things a whole lot easier. And don't look at us like that, because you didn't say anything that Jared and I don't already know."

Jared smiled at Paul, a real smile from back when they were friends and not wolves and not burying bodies and life was a whole lot different. "Paul? Remember when I used to tell you that when you finally fell for a girl, you were gonna hit the ground and it was gonna hurt like hell?"

"Yeah…"

Jared smirked. "Welcome to the ground, buddy. Now suck it up and stop being such a damn pussy."

There were a lot of things he could have said to that. Instead Paul staggered as the weight of his Alpha's anger flooded over him, over all of them. Jake was pissed, which probably meant that Jake was with Embry, which meant that they needed to move. Paul ran. It never occurred to him to order Sam and Jared to follow, and it never occurred to them not to. A few life changing minutes later, in which Paul realized all over again how much they all _loved_ their Alpha, Sam was leading the imprinted wolves home. His experience was guiding them through the unknown terrain, with Paul absorbing every little thing the older wolf thought. Learning, growing, missing Cass like crazy.

No. That was for later. And he wasn't a pussy. Jared thought he was, and Sam agreed. He _wasn't_,dammit! Embry was pretty sure that Paul was. Quil was really sorry, and he was really stupid, and he didn't mean to upset Paul, but no one was interested in talking to Quil so he could keep his mouth shut. Embry didn't hurt...it had been so long, but finally, finally he didn't hurt. He was so thankful…When Emb hurt, they all hurt, and they all were thankful. Paul lengthened his strides and ran side by side with his Pack, shoulder to shoulder with Embry and Quil, Sam and Jared flanking either side protectively as Paul instinctively took the lead from Sam.

This time the shift Paul felt was permanent, and as Sam and Paul traded places, Paul's wolf acknowledged the change as how it was meant to be. And it was Paul who led them home.

* * *

Cassie was in trouble. There were thirty-four un-played messages on her phone that attested to the fact, and she was pretty sure that Roman had slipped into the bar a couple times when she was working. Even though she never saw him, Cassie had spent enough time being spied upon, and that the itching feeling in between her shoulder blades that set her pulse racing had happened more than once. If it wasn't Roman, well then, Paul better get home soon if he wanted to see her again at all.

She was in trouble, but then again, Cassie had been in trouble for several years now, and in big trouble for over a year, and that kind of trouble had become so standardized in her life that she could almost ignore it. What she couldn't ignore was that she needed to find the extra strawberry daiquiri mix and it was simply nowhere to be found. She had torn the stockroom apart, having been promised that at least one jug was left by an insistent Hams. It was still early enough that no one was in the bar yet, with the exception of Kim and Emily, who were sitting in one of the far booths sipping soda and making jewelry. Cassie kind of sucked at making jewelry, but she really sucked at being a bartender, and each day she prayed that this might end. Please god, let it end.

But in a good way, a Paul coming home way, not the other scarier ways.

"Shane, I can't find it!" Cassie yelled from the walk in fridge, peering all around. Shane had become her new best friend in that no matter how mad Cassie's incompetence made the customers, Shane always seemed to be able to smooth talk them into pleasantness again. Of course a lot of pizzas were being given on the house and out of Cassie's pocket, but she'd buy this whole freaking place if it meant she could kick Joe Carter and his buddies out on their butts.

Every day. Every freaking day. On the slow days, when only three or four of them were hassling her, Cassie had daydreams of Paul sweeping in and bending her over, kissing her breathless as she told him she loved him. Then he would start the killing. She would keep her smile and drown out the drunken men's raucousness by imagining each as a man sized cockroach, with little waving antenna and beady cockroach eyes and itsy bitsy insignificant cockroach penises…and then she would stomp them with her boot! Stomp them, stomp them with the boot! Take _that_ and _that_ and _that_!

But mostly she daydreamed about the sweeping and the bending and the kissing. Just because he probably hated her for being mad at him right before he went off to maybe die, and he hadn't called her when everyone _else_ called their imprints, didn't mean there couldn't be sweeping and bending and kissing. And Embry hadn't called Sims, but apparently Embry was crazy and only Cassie and Sims were ignorant of that fact. She'd worry about Paul later, she needed the daiquiri mix now.

"It's in the fridge, Cass, I saw Paul put it in there the last shipment," Shane called back from his prep station. She wasn't allowed over there anymore, something about customers not appreciating smiley faces on their pizzas formed out of pepperoni and suspiciously decreasing shredded cheese supplies. Cassie had no idea what they were talking about.

Cassie stepped deeper into the fridge and let it latch closed behind her. "Paul put it here. Paul put it here. If I was a Paul as my nametag implies, where would I put it?" Cassie hummed lightly, looking around. "With the red things? No, not there. With the fruit things? No, not there either…" Then she looked up and made a face. "Of course. If I were Paul and ginormously tall, I would put everything on the top shelf. Figures."

There wasn't a ladder. But that was okay, because Cassie was a finely tuned athletic machine who may or may not have been cured of her own taste for alcohol in serving it this week. There may not be a ladder, but the shelving was just as good. She began to climb, hearing voices outside in the bar and thinking that she'd better hurry. Of course, it _would_ be on the top shelf…oh, hello creepy half filled plastic container of spaghetti sauce. Did they even serve spaghetti here? Maybe on a pizza? Paul would know, he was right outside talking to Shane, so she could ask him right away, right after she grabbed this jug…

Wait, Paul?

"Paul?" Cassie whispered, a rush of warmth spread through her body. And then she promptly fell off her shelf. The good news is it didn't hurt when she fell and the jug of daiquiri mix stayed in her hand. The bad news was that said jug just _might_ have smacked the spaghetti sauce on its way down, upending about two gallons of slightly rancid marinara sauce all over Cassie's head.

"Cass?"

Oh lord, he had heard her fall. Cassie wanted to see him, god how badly she wanted to see him, but not like this, not utterly soaked with sauce, and so with a yelp she made a dash for the door, managing to grab the latch just as Paul started to open it.

"Paul! You can't come in!" she cried, but as he continued to pull, she braced her foot against the wall and pulled back with all her little strength. When he saw her foot in the opening, Paul released the door, which thankful snapped back shut.

"Cass?" he asked in his deep voice. "Are you okay? I heard you fall. Why can't I come in?"

Because sauce was running down her arms. Because she looked horrible and he already thought so low of her, and she was the worst imprint in the whole world. Cassie sniffed, then sneezed when sauce went up her nose. She sneezed again, her nose burning.

"You just _can't_," she wailed, casting around for something to prevent his entrance. The best she had was a big metal spoon that Shane had accidentally left in here yesterday, and she stuffed the handle through the door latches.

"Cass?" Paul sounded confused and slightly hurt. "Cassie, did you just lock me out?

"_No_! Well…yes…"

There was silence, and Cassie cast around again, in hopes Shane had also left her a towel. No such luck. Her yellow t-shirt and Paul nametag were drenched, her hair was plastered to her head, and no matter how many times she wiped at her face, all she managed to do was spread the sauce around even more. Practically in tears, Cassie stood in the refrigerator, realizing that Paul had just come back from werewolf war and she was refusing to see him. Worst. Imprint. _Ever_.

He must have asked Shane to give them some privacy because Cassie heard Paul lean against the door and sigh, his voice dropping to that softer tone he only used when the two of them were alone.

"I've really mad a mess of things, haven't I, Cass?" Paul rumbled quietly. "I know I really upset you before I left and I never got a chance to talk it out with you."

Cassie sniffed, then sneezed, then did both a second time. He must think her so shallow…

"And I know I didn't call, and that probably made you even more mad at me," Paul acknowledged.

"Maybe…" she said back between sniffs, miserably realizing that marinara snot was coming from her nose. There would be no sweeping and kissing, not for her, stupid little Red.

"Cass, can I tell you something? Something that I haven't told anybody?" He took her silence for a yes, and his voice softened vulnerably. "I was scared to call you. I was scared you wouldn't pick up."

"But I _always_ pick up, Paul," Cassie told him in a hurt voice, scooting closer to the door. She always did, she tried so hard to be there for him.

"Yeah but you were so _mad_, Cass," Paul told her softly, his voice sounding older and more exhausted than she could ever remember hearing it before. "It was…it was pretty bad down there. We did things that I really need to talk to someone about. I'd really like that to be you, Cass, but it's going to be harder to hear than the Sims stuff. And you were so upset at me...everyone was counting on me down there, and I think if you'd refused to talk to me, if you were cold or you didn't care, it would have really fucked me up. It would have maybe everything even harder, but I should have still called, and I'm sorry I didn't, Cass. I'm sorry I messed up again, baby."

"You called me baby again, Paul," Cassie leaned her wet forehead against the cold metal door and smiled. "You don't do pet names, remember?"

"I'm a mysterious man, Cass," he teased gently. "You have yet to see the levels of what I'm capable of stooping to."

"You love me," she teased back, sniffing again.

"I _need_ you, Cass," Paul rumbled. "And it's okay if you're still mad at me, but I _need_ to see you and I _need_ to hold you. Be mad, just be mad in my arms instead of in the fridge. Can I please come in there?"

"No…"

"Cass…" He actually sounded pained, and Cassie wrung the hem of her ruined shirt in her hands.

"You'll laugh at me, Paul!" she wailed, stepping back from the door. "You'll make fun of me, and I'm not mad, and I need you too, but you _always_ make fun of me. And I was so _scared_, and there was a _vampire_, and I didn't want you to _die_, and Joe Carter is _evil_ and now you're here and I just don't want you to make fun of me..." Apparently she was shallow and stupid. Stupid stupid Red.

Silence, then, "Cassie?"

"Yes?" it came out much more petulantly than she had wanted it too.

"Cass," Paul rumbled softly. "Just trust me, baby. Let me in."

There wasn't much she could say against that, and she was pretty sure he was ready to bust on in anyways, so Cassie removed the spoon and stood disconsolately as Paul opened the door. His large body filled the doorway, blocking out the rest of the world, and despite how ridiculous she looked, Cassie couldn't help but gaze up at him, drinking him in. He was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen, and his dark caramel eyes swept over her like he could see right through her. If he could, then he would be the first one.

"I was sauced," Cassie mumbled unhappily, and to his credit, Paul didn't laugh. His eyes did sparkle though as he stepped closer.

"Where's my imprint?" he asked gently, wiping his thumb over her face, and Cassie couldn't help leaning into the touch as he scraped tomato juice away. "Ah. Here she is." And with that, Paul bent down and kissed her very lightly. Then he smiled and pushed her hair back from her face, taking with it enough sauce to leave her face mostly clear. "There she is again," he murmured, wrapping one large hand around the back of her neck and tugging her to him before tilting her head back and kissing her deeper. And hand down her back, over her hips, an arm beneath her ass as he easily lifted her up to face level, still smiling.

Cassie wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, holding on tightly as Paul buried his nose in her sauce covered shoulder, heedless of the fact that he was now sauce covered too. He inhaled deeply.

"Here she is," he decided, sounding pleased. "I found her."

"You found me a month and a half ago," Cassie reminded him with a smile and Paul threaded his fingers through her hair.

"Cass?" he asked softly, sounding vulnerable again. "Remember when I said I wanted to take it slow, to just be friends and get to know each other first? And you were going to do your own thing until we talked again?"

"Yeah?"

"We're talking again," he growled lightly. "I can't keep sharing you, it's causing too many problems. I _won't_ keep sharing you. I don't want to anymore, you're supposed to be mine and only mine. What do I have to do to get that from you? What do you need so that I can get that from you?"

What did she need? There was a list so long that you could build a bonfire with it. Only being with just Paul was pretty much signing her life away, but maybe Roman was wrong. Maybe there were ways to keep Afon out of La Push, and let her have just a while longer with Paul. That's all she wanted, just a little more time...

"No more sauce." Cassie decided. Paul looked at her in confusion, and Cassie smiled prettily at him. "Just get me out of the sauce and we'll call it good. And I would rather not share either, so no girls and no sauce. Deal?"

"Mine," he snarled possessively and ended up sinking his teeth into her pulse point hard enough it would probably bruise, which was the wolf equivalent of saying deal in this situation.

Cassie didn't mind. She didn't mind that Paul seemed to feel it necessary to kiss his way across every inch of her slender throat. She didn't mind him setting her on her feet and going down on his knees as he tugged her shirt up to her breasts, burying his nose against her bared vulnerable belly and wrapping heavy arms around her waist, holding her captive. She also didn't mind his very direct way of getting the sauce off of her, which nearly got both of them fired for her being mostly naked in the walk in fridge. But hey, Hams hadn't really hired her in the first place, so Cassie wasn't particularly bothered. She was with Paul and he was with her and everything was better. With him, everything was so much _better_. So what if there was sauce and growling disrupting the sweeping and the kissing? Little Red had learned a long time ago to work with what she was given.

Plus everyone knew the big bad wolf could kick Prince Charming's ass any day of the week.


	12. Chapter 11

A/N So this chapter was _**huge**_ and the folks on my lj account voted to break it into two chapters instead of one massive one. It's still a large post, even broken up. So if it seems I left you guys on a horrible cliffy, it really was the best place to split the chapter up. I'll post the next part soon, and it shouldn't be nearly this long, maybe about half this chapter. Thanks as always to my reviewers: _pinkshirt, Ashes-Of-Grey, MadToTheBone 1, TeffieS, InsanelyxLOUD, Miss Bear, The bunny always dies first, Jacobleah, EnglishVoice, Buffyk0604, KerryH, mcc3654, eskimogirl58, dixonmichiah, SugerSweetCutie, PinkAzn, makeupmakelove, twiceasbold, Kelli83, LightIsPrecious, ally leigh, _and_ garlauri._ Oh, and lemon alerts from now on. ;)

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Eleven

Cassie was dreaming again.

She dreamed of an empty chair in an empty room in an empty world. She dreamed of nothing on the walls, of nothing on the floor, of nothing on her. She stood at a window and gazed through it, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, feeling nothing. She leaned closer, her nose cold as it pressed against the glass, thinking that maybe, if she just tried a little harder, searched a little longer, then she would find what she was looking for. But there was nothing there. Nothing there at all.

The wolf's fur brushed across her fingertips and she turned to look. She couldn't see it, but she could feel it. Its warm body was pressed against her skin, and she smiled. There might be nothing out there, but in here was something, and something was always _always_ better than nothing. She closed her eyes and buried her fingers in its fur, pressing her nose back against the glass.

The glass shattered.

* * *

Cassie woke up with a strangled cry, but even as she jerked, she couldn't go anywhere. A heavy arm was wrapped tightly around her waist, pinning her in place, and a voice rumbled sleepily in her ear.

"S'just a dream, Cass," Paul murmured, tiredness making his masculine voice deepen even more. He shifted slightly so that her back was against his chest, keeping his nose buried against the nape of her neck as he lay curled around her on his side. "S'okay."

"Paul, the glass broke," Cassie mumbled unhappily, shifting into his warmth. Paul made a low rumbling noise somewhere between a purr and a growl, rolling his heavy weight onto her so that she was pressed face down into the bedding, his large body caging her in. His left arm slid underneath her torso, angling from her hip to her shoulder, and he brushed a kiss across her partially clothed shoulder blades. Hugs were good, but full body hugs from Paul were amazing.

"I'll fix it later," he promised sleepily, making Cassie smile even as his heat and presence slipped her back into dreams. This time it was simpler, easier dreams because there was something now and that something was Paul. That something was Paul's warm body wrapped around hers, and his mouth pressing soft kisses across her back. That something was a large calloused hand running soothingly over her stomach, slipping beneath her silk camisole top and stroking skin that he had yet to touch before now. Not sure if she was dreaming or awake, not sure if he was either, Cassie rolled beneath the body on top of hers, sighing softly as warm lips found her own. Paul pushed her top up to the bottom of her breasts, and then made a contented noise in his throat when she sleepily pulled it all the way off.

It had been a long week for Paul, the stress of taking care of the reservation with only six wolves had worn on him, and it had been even harder for him that Cassie had insisted on going home. With the amount of patrolling he had done, on top of working and helping Quil move into Paul's too small cabin, Cassie had barely seen him. Last night was the first time Paul had been able to crawl exhaustedly into her bed, too tired to think of doing anything other than wrapping her up in his arms and passing out. But now it seemed that the couple hours of sleep, as scant as they were, had been enough to recharge her wolf. Paul had wanted her to be his and only his, but thus far that hadn't changed anything between them. Cassie wondered if this was no longer the case.

"Can I?" Paul murmured softly against her bared chest, asking permission to touch her. His deep voice was pulling Cassie closer to waking, although she still was experiencing that pleasant haziness that said she was partially asleep.

Cassie hummed wordlessly in reply, resting her arms above her head on the pillow and allowing him access to her. Paul shifted so that he was beside her instead of on top, his mouth finding hers as he braced his weight an arm above hers, entwining their fingers. His free hand ran slowly down between her breasts, and Paul smiled against her lips as the touch made her arch up into his hand. His fingers spread to span the width of her stomach, and he paused there above the waist of the little matching shorts she had worn to bed last night. Paul liked boundaries, so the clothing had been her concession to modesty, but if she had known his intentions for this morning then Cassie might have forgone the discomfort of sleeping clothed. His thumb dipped below her concession momentarily before Paul remembered himself.

"You need to eat more," he chided her quietly, tracing where the dip of her stomach sank a little too low at her hipbones. "Something other than cookies, Cass. You lost weight this last two weeks."

"You were supposed to be waking me up with kisses and caresses, Paul. You're ruining it," Cassie told him with a little smirk, her eyes closing as his hand began rubbing gentle circles on her stomach. "Oh, that feels good." Trust a wolf to know how to give a proper belly rub. Paul moved upwards, still rubbing circles, only with a little more focus, and Cassie made a happy noise in her throat because that felt even _better_.

"Cass?"

"Hmm?" Words were hard because Paul was kissing the path his hand had taken, and he was currently nuzzling her belly button, tracing the indent with his tongue and making her squirm even as he palmed her breast gently. Paul pressed his rough thumb over her nipple, eliciting no reaction from her, but then he traced his fingertips lightly beneath the swell of her breast, and she moved into the touch.

"Is this okay?" he asked softly against her belly, and Cassie nodded. Content with her acceptance, Paul kissed her lower stomach just beneath her waistband, nuzzling her skin briefly before he slowly worked his way back up. Cassie relaxed beneath his attentions, enjoying the fact that Paul wasn't trying to arouse her necessarily, he was just learning her body. That was fine because she wasn't interested in faking anything with him, and to be honest, it was extremely hard for Cassie to actually find enjoyment from sex. But this was good. Touching, kissing, contact was all so very good.

It was strange that Cassie loved to be touched but disliked sex, but she was working on that part of herself. It was easy to imagine wrapping her legs around Paul's waist and feeling his powerful body moving over hers. It was easy wanting someone as beautiful and amazing as Paul was, imagining him surrounding her and filling her, imagining being his. She probably would like sex with him, if not at first then eventually, and she was willing to give it a try if that was what he finally wanted too. She wanted to make Paul happy and she wanted to give him a chance to make her happy too. It was a win-lose-win situation, with the only loss being her own issues, and those were odds that Cassie liked. A heat was beginning to build in her lower belly and Paul made a groaning noise against her breast as the scent of her arousal reached his sensitive nostrils. His tongue flicked out and the barely there contact did what his thumb hadn't, making her squirm again, the heat growing.

"You like soft," Paul murmured as Cassie ran her fingers through his short hair. A heavy palm over her other breast, nothing. Another flicker of his tongue, this time against her breastbone, and she moaned at the contact. "When I touch you heavier, it's like you don't even feel it. But _this_…" he licked her other nipple with just the tip of his tongue and Cassie writhed against him, her hands finding his shoulders. "This you feel."

"I don't like rough foreplay," Cassie admitted, and Paul smiled, moving back to her mouth.

"You don't like rough anything, baby," he told her in a fond voice, nuzzling her jaw. "You want the whole world to be soft and gentle."

"Soft is better," Cassie agreed, smiling in return because she loved how without even understanding why, he still got it. He still got her. Paul shifted and his hips pressed against her, catching his attention. "Well, soft is better with most things," Cassie smirked. "Reminding me of your virility, Paul?"

"If you insist," Paul chuckled sexily, and then Cassie giggled as Paul hooked an arm under her back and jerked her beneath him, settling between her legs. He was aroused, and even though he was still in the shorts he had worn here last night, she could feel his hardened body pressed against her. Paul paused and breathed a soft puff of air against her neck.

"You know you're ruining me, right?" Paul whispered across her skin.

"How's that?" she breathed and he chuckled lowly, nuzzling her again, this time by her ear.

"You're making me forget that I used to like being just Paul. It's becoming hard to remember being something other than Paul and Cassie."

Cassie smiled up at him, running her fingernails lightly down his back and making _him_ squirm this time. "If it helps, being just Cassie this last week was a much lonelier existence than being Cassie and Paul. Cassie and Paul has become much preferable."

"It does," Paul nodded seriously and then he very gently rocked his body against hers. Cassie had been expecting it, but she hadn't expected for him to be that careful with the motion. It felt comfortable, easy, like a hug only better, and instead of mentally preparing herself for this experience, Cassie let herself relax.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him as he did it again, wishing Paul knew what a big moment this was for her. It was practically a breakthrough, but there was no way for Paul to know that. Ah, but his lean tanned torso felt so good pressed along hers, and his weight felt _wonderful_. His mouth was the best, teasing across Cassie's as his hands hooked her knees over his hips, changing the angle. Cassie let out a soft sigh as that made things better, so much better, and her nails dug into Paul's shoulders as the heat built even hotter in her belly. Paul groaned and kissed her deeply, flicking his tongue across hers as he continued moving his body against her. Then to Cassie's surprise, Paul rolled them over so that she was on top.

Paul's eyes had darkened in lust as he grinned ruefully up at her. "I can do gentle, but it's really hard when I'd rather tear your clothes off and pile drive you until you scream." Cassie blinked, and Paul's grin grew into a sexy smirk. "You look so surprised, Cass," Paul chuckled, kneading her ass in his hands. "What, you thought you were the only one good at saying shocking things?"

"No, I'm just trying to decide if I would survive that coming from a wolf or not," Cassie hummed thoughtfully. "It's kind of on the far side of gentle. I suppose it would depend on the angle…"

Paul reached up and stroked a finger across her cheek lightly. "Never, Cass," Paul told her softly, giving her hip a little pat. "I'm never gonna be rough with you, not unless that's what you want. And even then, I still probably won't. I'm never going to do a thing that might hurt you, and I still haven't figured out how to have sex with you without breaking you."

"No one's broken me yet, Paul. Not completely, anyway," Cassie told him playfully, but Paul snarled at that wordlessly. She laughed at his possessiveness and ran a hand down his bare stomach, her fingernails lightly scratching his abdominals. She leaned over and kissed his belly button, and he watched her fondly as she attempted to blow a raspberry against his stomach. She wasn't very good at it, so she scrunched her face up and tried harder, making a series of weird sounding smooching noises that left Paul chuckling.

"You're adorable," Paul told her, making her giggle as he sat up and blew an actual raspberry against her collarbone. Then he lay back down and let her keep trying, because she was his imprint, and getting slobbered on seemed to be part of his role. It was cute, the things he let her do to him, considering that Paul was such a tough serious man. He closed his eyes, looking peaceful, and if it wasn't for the fact that his thumb was rubbing her hipbone lightly as she played, she would have thought he was asleep again. A tiny smile curved his lips every time her raspberry failed.

"You love me," Cassie decided contentedly, bouncing on Paul's hips a little and making him groan. His dark caramel eyes gazed up at her as she wiggled pointedly. "Maybe I could molest you into admitting it?"

"That's a tempting offer," Paul told the ceiling. "Is it wrong to accept that offer?" The ceiling wasn't sure, and neither was Paul as she bounced again.

Cassie held up her hand and waggled her fingers at him. "Want to see what I can do?" she asked devilishly and Paul groaned again, dragging her up his torso.

"More than you know," he told her breast, nuzzling it with his nose. "Waking up this morning, the first thing I wanted to do was roll over and spend the rest of the day driving you crazy, but I'm trying to hold myself back. I don't want to just be another guy for you, Cass, just here for sex and a good time. I want to be different."

"You _are_ different, Paul," Cassie told him, rubbing his arm as she curled in closer. The seductive warmth of his arms and body drew her in, her happiness making her lazy and foolish as she said, "Everything about you has been different. I actually _like_ being with you." Paul went very still, and Cassie realized she had made a mistake. Maybe he wouldn't notice...

"What do you mean?" Paul asked her quietly, although his voice had taken that firmer tone that said he was on the verge of growing very unhappy. "Why would you be with _anyone_ you didn't like, Cassie?" Guess that was wishful thinking. Cassie relaxed deeper into Paul's arms, trying to decide what if anything she wanted to say.

"Cass?" Paul pushed and Cassie tapped his nose with her fingertip.

"Hush, I'm thinking of an answer," she said, and he frowned at her but waited. Finally Cassie sighed and looked in his eyes. "Paul? Can it just be enough for now to know that it _is_ different with you? That being with you, even just walking around and holding hands, is so much better than I've ever had? I'm making sure to appreciate every single second I get to spend with you, because you matter so much, and you need to know that the others…they weren't like this. Never, not even close. Even if we hadn't been taking this slow, you were always different to me."

Paul thought about her words, running his hand up and down her spine. "There's more than that," he said finally and Cassie nodded. "But you're not ready to tell me." She shook her head no, and when Paul looked decidedly unhappy with that, Cassie buried her face into his chest.

"Some things you want to take slow," she murmured quietly. "Some things I do too. Just let me think about it, Paul, let me figure out how to talk about it. I will, I promise, I just need a little time."

"Time is all we've got, Cass," Paul told her gently, and he pressed a soft kiss to her brow, before tucking her in closer and rolling, burying them both into the bedding. Paul obviously seemed to think that her willingness to talk at some point was progress and it pleased him.

It killed her.

If it weren't for the fact that just a couple days ago Roman had freaked on her, threatening to quit since she seemed determined to throw her life away for Paul anyways, Cassie would have slumped against Paul and laid it all out for him, holding nothing back. But Roman was right. If not herself, Afon had ways of hurting her new Pack, ways they weren't equipped to combat, and she was being dangerous and putting Paul at risk. So she had told Roman her new plan, and he may have been less than pleased, but he had agreed. Cassie wouldn't wait for the beast to hunt her. She would go hunting the beast, back home in Russia. It would help take attention from La Push and grant her a little more freedom while she was State side. Not much but a little.

But Paul was wrong, time wasn't all they had. Time was the thing they didn't have. Time was precious, and it needed to be spent like this, together and happy. And Paul's questions were ones that would make him unhappy. No, she didn't like her lovers, but in taking them she was fighting. Fighting Afon, fighting for her future, fighting to make herself whole again. Maybe she could talk to Paul about it, but only a little. And he still wouldn't understand. She just wished…she wished…

"I can hear your thoughts racing," Paul whispered, tightening his arms. The heat of his body was pulling at her again, and he was using it to his advantage, holding her close and entangling their limbs. "Stay with me, Cass," he asked wistfully.

"I'm not going anywhere, Paul," Cassie replied, slightly confused, and he curled around her more completely.

Paul's breath was warm on her neck as he rumbled, "When your thoughts race, then the rest of you does too. You become someone else, someone I don't know. I like this Cassie, the one that's with me, not the one that runs in circles around me. Slow down and stay with me, Cassie. It's better here."

"Circles, huh?" Cassie chuckled softly. "You make me sound like a dachshund."

Paul shook his head. "Naw, more like a miniature poodle. You're much too high class to be a dachshund."

"A _poodle_?" Cassie smacked him in the face with a pillow, telling Paul in Russian just where exactly he could stick that high class poodle crap.

"A Chihuahua, maybe?" he suggested teasingly. "Because once you get past the yappiness and the drowned rat look, they are kind of endearing. Pretty high maintenance though…"

It was the drowned rat comment that got her, and Paul grinned proudly as she beat him repeatedly with her pillow, calling him all sorts of names he couldn't understand. When he was done getting yelled at, Paul snatched her around the waist and dragged her back into the bed, murmuring that she was his. Well…yeah. That wasn't the point though. But as Cassie lay tangled up in Paul's arms, his steady heartbeat lulling her back into dreams, she figured that being Paul's might just be one of the best things that had ever happened to her.

She could slow down. For him, she could try. Anything for him. Closing her eyes, Cassie rested her face against Paul's heart and she slept.

* * *

Jake was leading his Pack home.

There were five of them who ran together this day. There was the Alpha, who was strong enough to lead his Pack for nearly a year from across the country, one whose very presence filled them all with courage and pride. There was the Beta, who was skilled enough to find their newest wolf from an airplane in the sky, hundreds of miles away. There was the only female of the Pack, rare in nature and beloved by the Alpha and the Beta, somehow able to gain the attention of every dominant wolf that came within miles of her and important enough that even the disturbing Saskatchewan Alpha took note of her. Then there was the ancient wolf that was newest to their Pack, deceptively small but the most skilled fighter that they had ever encountered. Old enough to know things that they were all unaware of and capable enough to have taken on an entire Pack for hours one on one to protect the life of the Alpha.

Oh yeah. And there was also Collin.

Collin felt a little outclassed as he took his position on Jake's left flank. They had just finished a small break and were close to home, running in a wedge formation, the weaker wolves closest to the protection of the centered Alpha, the stronger ones flanking the weaker ones. Leah as always was on Jake's right, ruining the symmetry of the wedge as she refused to run even a hairsbreadth behind him, their muzzles even with every stretching step they took. Seth was on Leah's right flank, his vigil constant as it always was when running with his sister out of their own territory. On Collin's left was Jack, their newest member and one that even Collin was more dominant than. He would have been excited to not be at the dead bottom of the Pack anymore, if it weren't for the fact that Jack could probably wipe _Seth's_ tail all over the ground with one paw tied behind his back.

Whether it was true or not, Jack didn't feel that it was this pup's place to decide, and Collin yelped as lighting swift teeth grazed his hip in rebuke. Seth thought that was funny, and Leah wondered if it was true. If it was, then could Seth and Jack switch sides? Leah was pretty sure that no one really minded if Collin got eaten anyway, especially now that Collin was the nasty ho bagger…maybe Jake ought to run a little closer to her instead?

Collin didn't mind the jokes. Okay, he did mind the jokes, but he figured he had them coming. Although it wasn't like he hadn't practiced safe ho bagging. But the thought that his Alpha wouldn't want to run close to him, when Jake had been gone so long, actually hurt. It hurt much harder than it ever should have, enough that Jake pulled off the pace and made a sharp lunge into Collin's shoulder. It took the youngest wolf off guard and sent him rolling. Collin was fast, but Jake was faster and better at wrestling, using his greater weight to a distinct advantage as the two tussled through the grass. They ended with Collin on his back like an idiot, and Jake crouched on Collin's underbelly as the Alpha playfully clamped his jaws around Collin's throat.

Jake shook his head with mock viciousness. Grrr.

Seth was a little worried about their Alpha, now that Jake wasn't thinking in words anymore, just guttural noises. Leah didn't care, it wasn't as if Jake had ever been particularly eloquent, and Collin was embarrassed. There was a lady present and on his back like this, Leah could see his puppy parts.

Jake snorted. His puppy parts? Maybe if Jake gnawed on Collin long enough he'd grow some real wolf parts, and Collin thought that death by Alpha ear mauling was a painful way to go. Seth yawned and padded over to Collin, supporting Jake in the Collin growth attempt by chewing on Collin's tail. Collin yelped because Seth's teeth were sharp, but no one was paying attention. Or maybe they just didn't care.

The ancient wolf was watching, but as always most of his thoughts were quieted by his own desire to do so and muffled by his Alpha's control. But it did slip through that Jack liked chewing on pups, because that's what they were there for, to keep the older wolves' teeth sharp. Leah barked out a laugh and pounced on her new Packmate, and Jack obligingly let himself be rolled to the ground. Didn't Jack know? That was what _all_ the male wolves were for, to keep _her_ teeth sharp.

Jake thought it amusing that Leah thought everything was all about her.

It was.

They paused momentarily in their gnawing and the four Packmates looked at Jack. Jack shifted uncomfortably under their scrutiny, but he softly repeated his thought. Seth was trying to suppress his curiosity out of respect for Jack's privacy, but Collin didn't understand. Jack was even more uncomfortable but he understood that he was Pack now, and part of being Pack was instructing the new wolves properly. Jack pushed his thoughts slightly more to the surface, his main train of focus becoming only slightly lost beneath a range of other thoughts and emotions. The ground was warm, the breeze was cool, that tree was old enough to crack soon, Leah's teeth felt good even if they were uncomfortable, they were all gone, gone, gone…

The weight of Jake's mind dulled everyone for a moment and when he let up, Jack's thoughts were more focused, the background noise now blocked out.

The ancient wolf turned brown eyes on Collin, and the pup shifted beneath that focus. All joking aside, out of all of them, Jack really could eat Collin. Jack agreed, but he assured the pup he wouldn't. Now pay attention. The females were everything, Jack explained to Collin, because they made the Alpha stronger. A single female was the equivalent of and Alpha taking several male wolves into his Pack. If a female bore a pup from mating with another wolf, a wolfborn was the equivalent of several females. Wolfborn rarely survived to adulthood, but they were the ultimate blessing from Q'wati to the Pack. No one knew what happened if wolfborn mated. Tupkuk's twins and the child in the east were the only two that Jack had known in the last three hundred years, although the child would still probably die, she was barely out of her first ten years.

Collin was confused. How did Jack know this? He hadn't left the Hoquiam area for generations.

Jack didn't know how to answer that today, so he ignored it and continued. The male wolves were the sons of Taka Aki, born to protect the lands and beholden to that responsibility, but the females were not tied in such a way. They ran as they chose, they fought as they chose, and they mated as they chose. When they ran with the Pack, they were a gift and should be treated as such. Therefore Jack would be a sharpening stone for their female should she wish it, although if the blood from his ears was any indication, her teeth were sharp enough as it was. Did Collin understand?

Ummm…ish?

The Pack was split, broken, damaged. The sisters were gone and the brothers were turned against each other like animals fighting for scraps. Gifts were stolen, trapped, used, it was wrong, the Pack was wrong. The world had gone wrong, and Jack with it, but he tried, tried for his Alpha, tried for his Pack, tried for the female, but it didn't change, didn't take it back, voices voices in his head, cast off, betrayer, unforgiveable, always always unforg-

Jake's sadness curled through the Pack mind even as he blocked off Jack to merely a whisper. This was normal, the ancient wolf sinking into a darkness that tore Jack up inside, every time he spoke of anything past the last couple of centuries. Hell, anything past the last couple of days. The Alpha rose to his feet and padded over to the newest wolf, and Collin watched as Jake stepped over Jack's form, as if guarding him protectively. The whisper died to silence, with Jack's only thought being that he liked his Pack, and he liked his Alpha. He hoped that one day they would like him too.

They did, four wolves reassured him simultaneously. Leah especially liked Jack's ears, they were almost as good as Jake's. The Alpha hadn't been gnawed on for a while, and he had months to make up for. Seth bumped Collin's shoulder, and Collin rose obediently, being used to Seth's unspoken signals. Seth knew that Jake was ready to be home. They all were.

Still they waited until Leah had finished her gnawing on Jack. After all, it was all about her, remember?

It only took a few more hours to run, but it was with relief that they finally reached the La Push territory lines. A young wolf was waiting for them, only slightly more rested than he had been a week ago, although the weight of responsibility for the reservation had been taken off his shoulders ever since Paul had come home. His red coat made him look like a huge fox, and with a burst of speed Collin passed the Pack, barreling into Brady and sending the red wolf rolling. They bit and growled at each other happily, but only for a moment, because Brady's Alpha was finally home, and Brady was practically overcome with pleasure. The young wolf dropped to his belly, his muzzle on his paws as he waited for Jake to notice him. When the Alpha padded up towards Brady, the red wolf's tail wagged furiously, although he stayed where he was.

Jake was pleased with all of his wolves, but he was the most pleased with Brady. Brady had done well, and Jake was proud of him. A shiver of happiness rolled through the pup's muscles, but Brady contained himself to licking the Alpha's jaw vigorously. Jake accepted the muzzle bathing good naturedly, wagging his own tail as he glanced over at Jack. Jack had paused on the very edge of the borderline and was watching them enviously. Seth trotted over to Brady, nuzzling his ruff and back before nipping his hips playfully. Seth was pleased with Brady too, and thought that if Brady wagged his tail any harder, he might end up taking flight. Brady had done well. They would have Collin run Brady's patrols for the next week, so he could relax. He had earned it.

Collin was happy that Brady was so happy, and Brady totally deserved to have some time off-wait, what? How was that fair? What did Collin do?

Jake and Seth turned amused eyes at Collin. Mexican whore, they thought simultaneously.

Brady paused in licking Jake's muzzle as Collin whined unhappily. Would he never live that down? Leah still thought that Collin was a nasty ho bagger, but she was pretty pleased with Brady too. It must have sucked being all alone all that time, and she would have gone crazy being the only one left. Brady was cool, he might not even be a pup anymore. The she-wolf bumped her side against Brady's and licked his muzzle affectionately. The combined attention was too much for the young wolf, and Brady shivered again as the three most important wolves of the Pack made much of him. Finally Brady couldn't stand it anymore and jumped up, barking twice before leaping at Collin, taking out his pleasure on his friend so not to embarrass himself in front of the more dominant wolves. The two raced off into the forest, leaving the others behind.

Leah was glad to be home. She could smell Sam coming their way on his patrol route, and she thought she'd help him run. Seth better go tell Mom that they were home, because after everyone grabbed a shower and a nap, it was party time. Leah was glad they had let everyone know yesterday, because planned parties always had better food. Oh and if anyone told Sue about Leah's neck, Leah would eat _them_ for dinner. The she-wolf slipped off into the woods, and Jake watched her briefly before turning his eyes back to Jack.

Jack still hadn't crossed the border.

Seth reminded Jack that he was Pack now. This was his home. Not only was this Jack's home, this was Seth's home, and Seth wanted his Pack close at hand to keep an eye on them. The Beta trotted over to Jack and very deliberately shoved him. Jack whined apologetically but dug his nails into the ground, staying in place. Seth growled softly. There was a piece of paper that had been signed by the tribal council, granting Jack entry into La Push once more, and welcoming him back into the tribe. He wasn't an outcast anymore.

Jack dropped to his belly but still didn't move. That paper had been destroyed in the fight. It was okay, it hadn't really been enough. Jack had been banished from their tribal lands by the Pack Alpha and that couldn't be revoked by the Council, even if it had meant a lot to Jack that they had. Jake growled, and it wasn't softly. _Jake_ was the Alpha, and _Jake_ had revoked it. If _Jake_ felt like it, he could _order_ Jack into La Push, because Jack was Pack and had a job to do.

Jack shivered at his Alpha's displeasure, but stayed where he was. Jake was considering forcing Jack through, but Seth sighed and lay down next to Jack, resting his head on the other wolf's back. Jack was shaking he was so unhappy, and Seth didn't like his wolves unhappy. Jake didn't either, but he didn't like Jack being anywhere else than with them. Jack was Pack now.

Jack knew.

Did he?

He did. He did and he was happy. He liked his Pack and he liked his Alpha. But the voices wouldn't stop telling him that he wasn't supposed to be here, and Jack was afraid he would go mad if he stayed in La Push. He was afraid of angering the ancestors even more than he already had, and he was afraid that he would bring down more unhappiness on his people than he already had.

Seth wanted to know just what it was that Jack had done that was so bad that even the ancestors wouldn't forgive him. Jack had killed his Beta. Seth blinked but then leaned into Jack even harder, trying to use his weight and his heat to stop the ancient wolf from shaking. But _why_ had Jack killed him? Jack tried to formulate an answer, but his thoughts were so jumbled and broken that the Alpha was once more forced to block most of Jack's thoughts out, ordering all of his wolves to not ask Jack anything about his past unless the information was offered. Everyone but Embry and Paul were phased at this point, having sensed their Alpha's arrival, and they all agreed. Sam would relay the order to the new third and Brady would tell Embry. Good.

If Jack's Alpha asked it again of him, he would cross the border, but he was afraid.

The Alpha wouldn't ask. However this was Jack's home, and the Alpha would take it as a personal insult if Jake chose the company of a leech to them. Especially if that leech was Rico. And Jack would patrol, he was assigned to Seattle and the Makah reservation. They had imprints there and Paul would work Jack into the schedule. Jack understood and he wagged his tail apologetically, sadly thinking that once again he had disappointed his Alpha.

Jake wasn't disappointed. The Alpha moved over and huffed a soft breath across Jack's now scarred muzzle. It had been a good hunt, brother. Perhaps next time they would catch what they sought. Jack agreed. Any hunt with the Alpha was a good hunt. And then the ancient wolf was gone, leaving the Alpha and the Beta alone.

Seth stood up and yawned. Well, his work was done and Jake's stubborn ass was back. Now Seth was taking a nap for the rest of the summer and now _Jake_ could deal with everyone's craziness. Jake snorted, oh there was definitely craziness. Jake had found out a lot of things on his journey and Seth didn't know the half of it, but they'd deal with that at tomorrow's meeting. Today Jake was going to get to be with his Pack again, all of them except for Jack, and he even had a new Packmate to meet. What was Paul's imprint like?

Small, happy, a little excitable, Sam informed him quietly. Smoking hot, but kind of nuts, Brady and Quil added. She ran over Edward Cullen with her car, Jared stated smugly. Jake decided that he liked her already.

Probably not a good idea, Jake, Leah chuckled, because Cassie may try to have sex with him if Jake showed enough interest. Collin warned Jake cheerfully that it may or may not annoy Paul depending on his mood. Oh. Huh. That was strange.

Welcome to Seth's world, he'd been dealing with this shit for months now. Anyway, welcome home Jake. The Alpha smiled in his mind, thinking yes it was good to be back. Then he raised his muzzle in the air and let out an earth rattling howl.

The Pack's voices rose in answer, welcoming their Alpha home for good.

* * *

Cass took a long time getting ready.

Embry had once mentioned that Samantha could go from a dead sleep to being out the door in under ten minutes, and Embry had been utterly pleased by that fact. But Cassie and Sims were very different girls, and somewhere along the line someone had convinced Cassie that she absolutely _must_ look immaculate in every situation. Paul knew for a fact that his imprint couldn't care less if everyone else around her was a mess, she never even noticed, but Cassie was very self conscious about her own grooming. Therefore she was taking forever to get ready, even though they still had a four hour drive to get to La Push. The guys were already home, and part of Paul regretted not being there to greet them, but they all wanted to crawl into their beds and grab some sleep before this afternoon's party, so there was still plenty of time.

Maybe. Cass was taking a _long_ time with getting ready.

"Hey Paul?"

"Hmmm?"

She was standing in her bathroom in a little robe that barely reached her thighs, working on applying her make-up. Paul had spent the last hour, the hair preparation hour, seated on the edge of her massive bathtub, leaning against the tiled wall and watching her. It wasn't that Paul was that interested in hair, he couldn't care less in fact, but he enjoyed watching the hem of that little robe lift up every time she leaned forward towards the mirror. And even though what Cass was doing was boring, _how_ she was doing it was fascinating.

Cass was _so_ meticulous. There wasn't a single strand of hair out of place, even though her hairdo was designed to look messy, like she'd just rolled out of bed. Cassie had already decided last night what she was wearing, thank god, because the sheer number of colors of eye shadows she held up next to the dress she was planning on wearing blew his mind. Paul didn't want to know the effort she had put into its selection last night. And she was very seriously considering every single eye shadow, for at least a moment or two. Every single one, when there must have been hundreds. She actually had fifteen different shades of eyeliner pencils, all of which still looked black to Paul, and he wasn't even going to start on the jewelry selection process. If this had been anyone but his imprint, Paul would have strangled himself. As it was he contented himself to yawning occasionally and staring at her ass. He liked that part.

This was mostly Paul's fault anyway. Cass was meeting Paul's Alpha, the person that was the most important to Paul, and she was trying her hardest to look her best so not to embarrass Paul. She had actually said that, and Paul thought she was insane. Cass turned heads without even trying, and when she tried, the result was like a natural disaster. Paul still didn't know how Collin had turned her down that first night. He didn't know how he was still doing it either.

"Do you think Jake will like me?" Cassie asked in a worried little voice as she fingered her hair, and Paul hid his smile. It was cute how concerned she was about this.

"Nope," Paul replied very seriously, and when she glared at him through the mirror, he smirked at her. "As long as I like you, Cass, no one else needs to. Especially not guys that can kick my ass."

Cassie pursed her lips as she very carefully drew a probably not black eyeliner pencil along the bottom of her eyelid. "Is he really that strong?" she asked curiously and Paul yawned again.

"He can order me to stay in this spot for the next year and I'd die of hunger before I could break the order," Paul said, stretching idly. "The only ones who could hold their own fighting him would be Seth and possibly Jack. Probably Jack, not that Jack would ever blink without Jake's permission."

"I'll take that as a yes," Cassie murmured, but there was something in her tone that caught his attention. She didn't smell different than normal, but her hands were trembling lightly as she applied a tiny line along her lower lashes.

"Cass? You're not scared of Jake, are you?" Paul asked her, standing fluidly and moving up behind her. She didn't smell scared, but Cass's emotions could be tricky to catch sometimes. It was like she was a master at hiding them, and he had to pay very close attention. Cassie stood up a little straighter and examined her handiwork, then she looked at Paul in the mirror, the top of her blonde head barely coming to his breastbone.

"Am I scared of the man that has utter control of you, Paul?" she tipped her head to the side and pursed her lips. "A little. I don't think that people should be able to control other people, and it's frightening to think that your whole life is dependent on your Alpha's will. What if he was a bad guy? What if he made you do bad things? What if the only reason you're nice to me is because he ordered it that way? What if he banished you from pizza for the rest of your life? Wouldn't that suck?"

Paul smiled as he caught the statement she slipped in there, and he very carefully leaned down and kissed the side of her neck. She'd worked far too hard on her hair for him to mess it up, so he contented himself with nuzzling her shoulder instead.

"The imprint is between us," Paul told her reassuringly. "Jake can't affect that. In fact, the imprint is the only thing that might allow me to fight past one of Jake's orders, not that I would ever have to. Jake's a really good guy, Cass, and I was just teasing earlier. He's gonna love you. The Pack is his, which means that you're one of his now too."

He barely caught it, the slight tensing at the corner of her eye, but he did. Paul hooked an arm around her waist and smiled.

"Cass? What's your favorite holiday?"

She brightened immediately. "New Year's Day," Cassie said happily, smiling at him. "It's kind of like Christmas for American's, with fir trees that we decorate and hide presents under on New Year's Eve. And everyone is with their families and we have this amazing meal right before midnight, and we listen to the head of state make a speech. Then right at midnight you can hear the Kremlin chimes…it's so wonderful, Paul. It was always my favorite night of the year."

He chuckled at her enthusiasm, tucking that information away in his mind. "Okay, well that feeling, that happiness that comes from your favorite things, that's what our Alpha is like for us," Paul explained. "That warmth you feel when surrounded by family, when surrounded by tradition, that's Pack. Even when things are tough everywhere else, our Alpha makes everything okay again, just by being with us. Being Jake's isn't a bad thing, Cass. It means that you always have him backing you. Just like you always have me backing you, only Jake packs a harder punch. And he's going to love you, even more than Seth, because he's the Alpha, and you're one of his Pack's imprints." He pressed his thumb to her breast, tapping lightly. "The heart of the Pack, remember Cass? A man is never going to deliberately hurt his own heart. You're more guarded and cared for then you could possible realize. There's nothing to be scared of."

"You make being owned sound almost like a good thing," she said quietly, and her pretty hazel eyes hardened ever so slightly again.

"You own him too, Cass," Paul told her seriously, picking up that this was a touchy subject for her. "You own me, you own the Pack. We all own each other, we all matter to each other, and we all depend on and strengthen each other. That belonging is so very important, and each member of this Pack is so very important. Jake understands that better than anyone. Talk to him today, you'll understand what I mean. And don't be surprised if he hauls you around for a while," Paul added with a smile. "The smaller the imprint, the harder it is not to play pick up the imprint. Claire's feet never hit the ground when enough of us are around."

"I think I was just compared to a five year old," Cassie snickered as she started applying her eye shadow, his words seeming to have eased her defensiveness.

"Yes, but a very intelligent, adorable five year old," Paul said solemnly. "She might be six now though, and Claire's the true Alpha, in case you're interested. Claire rules us all with an iron fist, and Quil's bringing her today. By the way, we kind of need to start moving a little faster, poodle girl. We still have to get your cookies."

Cassie had been very excited yesterday because Baba Wells had taught her to make lemon cookies for the party. Not prianik medoviy, that was too difficult for Cassie not to ruin, but she was still proud of herself. Paul had received twenty three different text messages attesting to the fact.

"Poodle me one more time Paul, and you will suffer the consequences," Cassie warned as she started working on her other eye. "I _am_ Russian, which makes me inherently badass." Then she yelped and jumped as he smacked said ass, glaring murderously as her eyeliner was now wandering off towards her temple.

"Nope, not a bad ass at all," Paul smirked, giving her a bottom a deliberate squeeze. "A little scrawny, perhaps, but a couple of my babies will fix that. Anytime you want to get started baking them up, momma, just let me know."

This time he got smacked in the face with a hair dryer instead of a pillow, although both weapons were equally ineffectual. Damn, he loved it when she yelled at him in Russian. It was his new favorite thing. Paul couldn't get upset or offended by what she was saying, he had no clue what the words meant, and her nose always scrunched up so cutely when she was mad. However he did get an eyelash curler in the eye, which kind of sucked, and since it seemed like she wasn't anywhere close to running out of things to call him, Paul smiled at her brightly and edged towards the door.

"How about I go get the cookies for you?" he asked hopefully. Cassie threw her hairbrush at him and growled, a cute little noise that made Paul pounce, this time ruining both hair and makeup as he hauled his little imprint up into his arms. He dumped her breathless and flushed on top of the sink and fled before Cass had a chance to recover. Her dismayed screech was completely worth it as Paul darted out the front door.

It was still early enough in the day that Cassie's car was currently being usurped by a valet, meaning Paul was walking to Baba Well's store. Paul didn't mind, it was a nice day, free of the constant drizzle that so often fell in Seattle, and he felt good. He felt good because he had a day off, an entire day, and not only had he gotten to wake up with Cassie in his arms this morning, she'd be going to bed with him tonight. Quil would be sleeping outside, in case anyone was interested, because Paul's only slightly existent sex life took precedence over Paul's new roommate. Quil had apologized profusely after Paul had agreed to take him in, and Paul had kind of felt sorry for Quil. When it came to bro-mances, Embry and Quil had been together a long time, and the split was hurting Quil more than Quil was saying. Paul didn't have much, but if his brother needed a spot on the floor, Quil could have it. However that spot would be moved out on the porch if Paul could finally get his imprint in his own bed again.

Cassie had fled the reservation the same day he had come home, and Paul wouldn't lie. It had hurt his feelings, especially when she had insisted on throwing several parties that week while he was worried to death about her being unprotected over here. But Rome wasn't built in a day, and the knowledge that Cassie had agreed to be with him and only him filled Paul with a sense of peace that he hadn't realized he was missing. On a very deep level, Paul had been afraid that in returning to Seattle and going about her life as normal, Cassie had chosen to ignore her promise of fidelity to him and only him.

He never should have doubted her. Her rooms may have smelled of people, but Cass's sheets and her skin had only smelled of her.

Whistling a little, Paul trotted down the street, his phone buzzing in his pocket. It was his imprint, reminding him to get the car from Jonathan so they could take it to La Push, and Paul chuckled. Oh yeah, the kid was definitely going to like hearing that. Then Paul stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Cass had just reminded him of an errand, even though he already knew he had to do it. It was such a…girl thing. It was such a _couple_ thing that Paul couldn't help but grin a little foolishly. Yeah, he was getting it bad, wasn't he? Paul sent her back a message saying, "Sure, momma," knowing it would get her goat just a bit, but she only sent him a smile. Maybe they both were getting it bad.

The shop wasn't hard to find, Paul just had to locate the sign he couldn't read and follow the smells of something delicious. Even the wolf roused itself at the heavy aroma of baked goods, or maybe it was because very faintly beneath the mixed scents of the food and the patrons and the owners, Paul could smell Cassie. She really must come here a lot.

A little bell rang as Paul slipped inside and a male voice called from the behind the kitchen door that someone would be there in just a moment. Paul would recognize that voice anywhere…it was the kid in love with Paul's imprint. If Paul thought the kid had a chance in hell of catching Cass's attention, he might actually be jealous, but as it was Paul waited patiently in front of the glass cases as Jonathan backed through the door carrying a large tray of sweet rolls. He turned to Paul with a smile that immediately fell into a glare.

"Oh. It's you." Jonathan shoved the tray into an empty slot in the case and without a word walked right back into the kitchen. Paul raised an eyebrow as he heard a stern female voice start lecturing the kid, her accent heavy and identical to Cass's when Cass was sleepy.

"Jonathan! You will not be rude to the customers! I will carve tomorrow's trays out of your backside, child, if you do not apologize instantly!"

"It's the big bully cookie, Baba," the kid grumbled. "The one that eats the other cookies."

Silence, then, "Ah. Finish these please, while I go speak with our cookie." Paul was trying to figure that one out when an imposing elderly woman walked briskly from the back room. She took one long look at Paul, as if sizing him up and then she frowned.

"You are Paul Coho? Ksanochka has sent you for the cookies?"

"Yes, ma'am," Paul said politely, trying for a charming smile because these people were important to Cassie. It failed, miserably.

"I am Baba Wells. You may continue to call me ma'am," she said sternly, and to Paul's shock the woman marched right around the counter and up to him, grabbing his ear like he was an errant child. It didn't hurt so much as it was a little humiliating as Baba dragged Paul by the ear back into the kitchen. Jonathan was in the corner frosting some cinnamon rolls and he didn't even try to keep his vicious grin off his face as Baba pulled Paul to one of the side tables. There were two large boxes, both lying open but ready to leave the store. One held cookies. One held…something else.

Baba released his ear. "Do you see these cookies?" Baba pointed imperiously at the box of something else, and Paul raised an eyebrow dubiously.

"Those are cookies?" They looked more like charred little nuggets to Paul.

"_Yes_, they are cookies," Baba snapped. "They are _your_ cookies, Paul Coho, because they are the cookies that Ksanochka spent all of yesterday baking for _your_ friends. These are the best batch that she made, and therefore the one that you are supposed to be taking."

Paul cringed, but he knew his Pack. They'd eat them, even if Paul had to stuff the damn things down their throats. "Okay. I guess-"

"Eat one."

"I'm sorry?"

"Eat one, Paul Coho. _Now_," Baba barked with the tone of one used to being obeyed, and Paul was Pack, which meant he instinctively knew when he was out dominated. Immediately Paul snatched a cookie out of the box and stuffed it in his mouth. Then he gagged.

At any other time in his life, Paul would have spat the cookie charred nugget thing out of his mouth but Baba was glaring at him and these were Cass's cookies. It took some effort, especially for someone who had downed a stray chunk of vampire here and there, but Paul finally managed to swallow. Wordlessly the older woman walked over to the sink and poured him a glass of water. Gratefully Paul gulped it down and grimaced at the way the cookie thing had sucked every last drop of moisture out of his mouth. Baba then handed him a different cookie, one only vaguely resembling Cass's in size and shape.

"Now, eat _this_, Paul Coho."

He was a little distrustful, doing what this woman had said had backfired on him once already, but Paul did as told. The cookie was amazing, sweet and flaky, one of the best things he had ever eaten in his life. This time no water was needed for swallowing. Baba hit him with another flat stare.

"Now, Paul Coho," she said coldly, "You understand. This is what those are supposed to taste like. Obviously they do not. Ksanochka spent an entire day making those for your party, and I will not have her humiliated. Given what little we know about you, it is unlikely that you have the gumption to keep your companions from being unfairly cruel to her despite her efforts."

"What? Wait, no! No way would I let-"

Baba slammed her hand down on the table so hard that Paul actually started, and her eyebrows moved angrily. They _moved_. It was frightening. "When I speak, you will _listen_, Paul Coho! Or you will not be allowed to see Ksanochka again, do you understand me?"

Paul blinked, not realizing this woman had that much power, but the eyebrows moved again and he quickly nodded, saying a very swift, "Yes ma'am." In the back of the kitchen, Jonathan was snickering.

"Good. This is what will happen. You will decide that you like Ksanochka's cookies. You will decide that you like them so much that you will eat them all. I will not make this decision for you, the decision will be your own, not at my suggestion. You will eat every last one, and then I will be angry with you for making me send my entire supply of prianik medoviy with you instead along with this second box of lemon cookies. To appease my anger, you will agree to accompany Ksanochka to lunch in two days at my place of choosing, where we will officially meet and I will decide if you are worthy of her attentions. I don't believe you are. Is this understood?"

Paul stared at her and Jonathan laughed as he passed by, carrying the cinnamon rolls out to the front. Not knowing what else to do, Paul nodded.

"Then we are agreed," Baba declared briskly. "There are four dozen cookies in that box, Paul Coho. I suggest you eat them swiftly." And with that, Baba Wells swept from the room, her bun glaring at him just as ominously as her eyes had. Paul cringed again when he looked at the box of Cass's cookies. The door swung open as Jonathan stuck his head in the kitchen.

"Hey, asswipe," Jonathan said brightly. "You could just throw them out and lie to her, proving you're just as big of a dick as we all think you are. It'd be a whole lot easier that way."

Paul would have glared at him, but Cassie cared about this little punk, and she cared about the scary grandmother, and at least these people cared enough about her in return to not want Cassie's feelings hurt. So Paul filled another glass full of water, and he sat down at the table. He took a deep breath and he steeled himself. He had survived the newborn war. He had survived the culled Pack war. He was the third. He was a badass. He was a _wolf_.

Paul ate the damn cookies, every single last one. And he'd _never_ tell her he threw up twice in doing so.

* * *

There was a little shack out in the woods of La Push that very few people knew about. Even fewer knew that inside said shack was the most potent moonshine known to man.

Few humans had tasted this moonshine and lived to tell the tale of it. Fewer still could remember drinking it in the first place. It was strong enough to grow hair on your chest just by smelling it, there had been speculation that its consumption could kill any known internal infection, and it was possible that it could be used as an alternative fuel source. It also just happened to be one of the few things that could get a wolf roaring drunk, even if he and his best friend were only sixteen and therefore had no business getting roaring drunk.

But you see, these two sixteen year olds were very different from normal sixteen year olds. One had recently learned something about himself that he was utterly unequipped to know how to handle, something that may or may not end up with him scalped by his Packmates. The other had slept with a Mexican whore. They both had their own problems.

"Dude, just do it. I'm sure it'll help," the first one was saying. "It's helping me. It's helping me a lot."

"Yeah, but these are totally different problems, Brade. Yours is an inside problem. Mine's an outside problem."

"Mine's gonna be an outside problem if I don't learn to keep my brain shut. Hence the booze. Come on, Collin, just man up and do it. What are your other options? It's not like you can walk into a clinic or some shit."

"This is all Jared's fault! If he hadn't said it, I wouldn't be convinced about it. I don't see anything, though, so maybe I can just skip the preventative measures?"

"This is all Seth's fault. He should have left you here instead of me, then I would still be my normal oblivious self."

"We're talking about me here, Brade."

"Then man up so we can get back to me, Collin. Am I gonna have to do this shit for you?"

"No…do you promise this will work?"

"I'm not sure _we_ can survive much of this stuff. So I'm pretty sure that any stuff on your stuff is gonna die, man."

"But it's gonna _burn_!"

"Remember that next time you dip your junk in the all you can fuck buffet line. I can never let you out of my sight, can I? Here, gimme the bottle."

"Fuck off, Brade, I'm gonna do it."

"No, you're not."'

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not…hey Collin. Seriously man, I think I see something crawling around in there. Better do this shit quick before they breed."

"Oh my god, they can _breed_?"

"Even better than you, dude."

And with that, the decision was made. Two teens, two wolves, two separate problems. Alcohol fixed the one, although not without an abundance of yelling and cursing. They would see with time if alcohol fixed the other.

* * *

Paul's world was much more confusing than it used to be.

They were supposed to be at Seth's house. They were supposed to be welcoming the Alpha and the rest of the Pack home. Paul was supposed to be standing stolidly at his Beta's side as his Beta stood not nearly as stolidly at his Alpha's side, and the imprints were supposed to provide baked goods. That had been the plan. Paul always made a plan and he always followed the plan.

Apparently Cassie and plans didn't really go together all that well.

It had started off okay, once Paul had quit puking and had weakly accepted the boxes of desserts from a smug Baba. They were armed with a fresh supply of lemon cookies and honey cakes and half the rest of Baba's store, because a Paul who planned knew that his Pack would destroy these little cookies by the fistful. Baba didn't give him a discount. They had even managed to leave on time despite Cassie's last minute panic and destruction of her closet, convinced she was dressed completely wrong and insisting on changing three more times.

Unfortunately they had only made it about halfway to La Push before Cassie grew bored with her tiny Rubik cube and started in on the baked goods. After another hour of seeing just the kind of damage his imprint could do to a box of honey cakes, Paul had grinned and taken them away from her, and the resulting arm flailing and clawing had nearly put her car into a tree. Somehow a heated disagreement about whether it was worth it to die for pri…pri…those damn honey cakes had ended up with Cassie on the hood of her car on the side of the road and Paul's hands up her shirt as he mauled her mouth mercilessly.

Paul's world was much more confusing than it used to be, but it was _much_ more interesting.

"We have to go," Paul told her between kisses, and Cassie hummed something that might have been agreement, but it was hard to translate when he was more focused on kneading her ass in his hands and nipping at her earlobe. She slid her hands into his slightly longer hair, he really needed a haircut, and tugged his mouth back down towards hers. Paul loved this girl's lips, he loved how they always tasted of sweets and of Cassie, how if he nibbled on them long enough they would look pouty, and maybe if he annoyed her again they would be pouty…

"My Alpha is coming home, Cass," Paul rumbled, biting her bottom lip and sucking on it before breaking the kiss again. "We need to stop."

She didn't argue, sighing and sliding off the car, but that swollen lip was actually pouty and Paul groaned, snatching her back up and dropping her roughly back on the hood. He still had to lean down, bracing one arm on the car and keeping her pulled tight against his body with the other as he attacked her mouth again. Damn he loved her lips, but he loved her legs too, how the heel of her boot was digging into the fabric of his back pocket, how her other foot hooked behind his knee, trapped him just as tightly to her.

The black skirt was cruel, the white button down shirt was crueler, and the boots were the worst, because in her attempt to look more conservative, Cass had only managed to look like a sexy librarian. Thank god Cass didn't wear glasses, because she already had Paul necking on the side of the road, running through every reason why he had decided he didn't want to take things too fast. If she had worn glasses, he'd still probably have her bent over something, doing things that would traumatize Collin a little more than just having Cass's back against a tree.

Fuck, he wanted this girl.

Her nails were digging into the back of his neck and her scent was driving him nuts. The wolf was humming in the background of his mind, wishfully thinking of how nice it would be to actually mate with their mate. Paul agreed, even if he had reasons for not wanting to yet. But it was hard, wanting her and knowing she wanted him. It was easy to forget she was too used to this, and he was convinced that she was just being nice when she said that he was different. He would be different, though, he was determined to be, and screwing her brains out mere days after actually starting a relationship with her was not the way to be different.

"You know what I like about you, Paul?" Cassie murmured against his mouth.

"What baby?"

"This," she smirked, snagging the waist of his pants in the curve of her fingers and pulling him closer. Her skirt hiking up her hips dangerously high, Cassie slid her hand into his pocket and grinned up at Paul. This time instead of pulling away from her forwardness, Paul groaned and picked her up, wondering if he could just do this now and apologize to her profusely later. Maybe they could go crazy now and go back to taking things slowly afterwards? He must have said it out loud because Cassie laughed and bit his neck with her little teeth, and he growled at her warningly as she continued to tug at his waistband, teasing him.

"Damn, I want you, Cass," Paul growled as he bit at her pulse point. And he did. Going down to Mexico had changed Paul, had changed them all. It had made him much more aware of his own mortality, and the drive to mate, to reproduce was stronger than ever. Plus when Paul didn't smell other men on her, it was hard to remember why he was trying to hold himself back in the first place. "You're so fucking sexy..."

"Hey, big guy, I'm not the one saying no," she grinned. "In fact, you should be ashamed of yourself for making me wait for you so long." Her words and her scent didn't quite match up, but Paul was too focused on getting her back on the car and her skirt down her thighs before an oncoming vehicle caught too good of a view of his imprint.

"You're evil," Paul murmured against her hair before stepping away and waiting as a car drove by. Paul grimaced when it honked at them and he started to pick Cassie up so they could go into the privacy of the tree line next to the woods, but she scooted back and grinned up at him. There was the slightest tightening of her eyes, but he interpreted it as anticipation because she was smiling at him encouragingly, and she smelled like she wanted him just as badly as Paul wanted her. The wolf had grown very still in his mind, but Paul was more concerned with kissing those lips again, nibbling on them enough that he could suck on them after they swelled beneath his attentions.

"I'm pretty comfortable _here_, Paul," she told him, arching an eyebrow at him as she reached behind her back. Paul swallowed when he realized that she had unclasped her bra and she had pulled it from her sleeve, snapping it at him before leaning back on her hands. She crossed her legs and smiled brightly. "But if you can't hang, we can always continue on. We do have a pressing engagement, and you know how I am about fulfilling my social obligations. Fashionably late stopped being fashionable five years ago."

It was a cold day. There were things beneath that shirt that he _wanted_ to see, but he didn't want anyone else to. She was _killing_ him here.

"Well, I suppose if I'm going to get arrested for public indecency, I might as well do it right," Paul growled, and then he smirked at her as he gripped either side of her white button down shirt and with a jerk he ripped it open, the movement startling her enough that she jumped. Immediately his mouth was slanted over hers, and her breasts were in his hands and she felt so fucking good…

The wolf let out a horrible snarl and Paul jerked in surprise, wondering what was wrong, what the danger was. The wolf was snarling, but it was snarling at Paul. _Paul_ was the danger. The wolf was snarling for him to stop, and for the first time in his whole life, the wolf pushed its own will at Paul.

Paul had never understood what Embry had meant when he had said it hurt when he was fighting the wolf. But he understood now, because in trying to change what Paul was doing, the disruption of the balance between them felt like heavy needles shoving through Paul's organs, twisting everything wrong. The wolf immediately stopped, it liked their balance, and it didn't want that broken. It wanted Paul in control, but Paul didn't listen when he should, and the wolf wasn't going to let anything damage its mate. Not even Paul.

He was so confused. Cassie was staring up at him with a flush to her cheeks and anticipation in her eyes, and she smelled like arousal, not…not…Paul sniffed deeper, finally using his nose the way he should have been all along. _Dammit_.

Paul jerked his hands off his imprint and stepped back, shakily pulling his shirt over his head and handing it to her. Now Cassie was the one that was confused, and his rejection flashed hurt in her eyes. The scent of hurt was much more powerful than the other scent, the one that Paul should have picked up but hadn't until his wolf started screaming at him, and it burned Paul's nostrils. Paul couldn't have that look in her eyes and so he closed back in, wrapping his arms around Cassie and hugging her close.

"Paul? What's wrong?" She asked in confusion, but his head was spinning and the pain that the wolf had caused had left him shaky, so Paul just shook his head.

"I'm sorry I tore your shirt," he mumbled, reaching for her hand and squeezing it apologetically. Cassie smiled easily at him and laughed, removing what was left of her blouse and pulling his t-shirt over her head.

"That's okay. I was trying too hard anyway, and I knew it," Cassie chuckled, flopping her arms comically as the shirt enveloped her. It was loose on Paul, so it was mammoth on her. "Can we swing by your place so I can steal something pre-wolfy? This is kind of like wearing a tent." She flapped her arms again and giggled.

Paul nodded in answer and helped her off the car, holding open her door for her and carefully shutting it after she climbed in. Then he very calmly walked away into the forest. Cassie must have been confused at his abandonment, but Paul really wanted to punch something, and not her stupidly expensive car. After all that would scare her and it seemed that Paul had already upset his imprint enough for one day.

He had no idea how she was that good at hiding it.

The wolves often referred to being able to smell emotions, but it was more complicated than that. Emotions didn't have smells necessarily, but the body's reactions to those emotions sometimes did. Sexual arousal obviously could be literally smelled, but any human could pick up on that. The wolves had better noses than a human and could pick up on more subtle arousal, but that was the easy one and it was the one that was the easiest to get distracted by. Fear was another emotion they could smell from specific sweat gland excretions, although that was usually overwhelmed by changes in heart rate and breathing, and the scent was just an added indicator. Shame was close to fear, only the sweat gland excretions were more bitter.

That wasn't a single wolf that liked the smell of shame, and coming from those they cared about, it tended to drive them into a protective frenzy. Paul had spent a lot of time his senior year of high school keeping Jared from killing those who regularly teased Kim, not so much because Kim was being teased, but because Kim had a particularly strong reaction to being teased. Kim's shame was particularly sharp, Samantha's was nearly as bad, and interestingly enough, Jake's was the worst. Maybe that was why they all had such a hard time not hating Bella Swan so much, because every time Jake looked at her, he was ashamed he hadn't saved her, and the smell of his continued shame drove them all into a silent fury.

There were multiple other emotions and reactions they could interpret, but the point was that as a wolf, Paul should be able to tell when he was upsetting his imprint. He had smelled her shame the day he had come home to Cassie a week ago, and she was lucky he hadn't torn the refrigerator door down in trying to get to her. He had smelled her arousal that she tried to suppress out of respect for him and his wishes when they slept near each other. But never ever had he smelled fear from her when it was just them, not even when he was yelling at her, not even when he punched a hole in her floor, not even when he phased into a wolf in front of her eyes.

But when he had torn off her shirt, it had frightened her. Badly.

The thought made Paul punch a tree, hard enough to take a fist sized chunk out of it. The bitch of it was that the goddamn _wolf_ had to tell him, that Paul hadn't been able to smell past her arousal and the lazy contentment that seemed to slide over Cassie when they were together. He made her happy. Paul could tell he made her happy when they were together, it was one of the things that he was so fucking proud of. He made his imprint happy, and even when she was acting oddly hyped up, all he had to do was hook his arms around her and she was happy again.

So how the fuck was it possible for her to be content and happy and aroused, and smell all of these things, and still on some level be scared of him? How was it possible for her heart rate to stay down and her breathing to stay down and yet have dueling scents of shame and fear coming from her pores? And how the hell did she keep it so suppressed that he hadn't been able to pick up on it until forced? He constantly smelled his imprint, and Paul might be distracted by the scent of her arousal, but he had _always_ wanted to protect her more than he had wanted to mate with her.

Paul had no idea how he had missed it, and he was deeply ashamed of himself that his wolf had felt it necessary to try and force him to stop feeling up their mate.

The wolf didn't blame Paul, not necessarily, and it wished it hadn't hurt them both. But it would break them in half and fold them into little squares if it meant protecting her. It didn't have the answers Paul was asking for, but the wolf thought Paul should ask their mate. She was clever and liked to play games. Maybe she had been playing.

Playing scared?

Playing _not_ scared.

Paul frowned and stopped himself from punching another tree. Jared's wolf didn't talk to Jared, but Jared's wolf had picked a mate already completely devoted to Jared within days of Jared phasing. Maybe Jared's wolf had done so to give them a security net, something consistent to cling to. But Paul's wolf had picked Cassie, declaring her a fit mate in temperament to them because she liked to play and they could send their time playing with her. Paul liked games too, but this kind of game wasn't exactly what Paul had had in mind.

He couldn't leave her for much longer. Cass was the type to come wandering out to find him, and if Paul was so bad at smelling her fear, he sure as hell wasn't letting her into any situations that could frighten her and him not realize it. So Paul turned back around. Sure enough his little imprint was halfway down the steeply sloped side of the road, heading for where he had disappeared, and Paul met her before she reached the bottom, his muscled arm around her waist hefting her off her feet as he jumped back up to the car.

"Are you okay?" Cassie asked in concern, but Paul didn't answer. He wasn't sure what he was, and he didn't lie to his imprint. However he did back her into the car and box her in with his arms, brushing a gentle kiss across her lips and sniffing for all he was worth. No fear. No shame. Just Cassie. Sighing Paul opened her door again and put his imprint back in the car. He didn't speak until they were down the road about a half hour, Cassie casting little worried looks his way but not interrupting him as he thought. That was nice. Paul appreciated that. It took him a while, but then he finally felt he was in control enough of his self-recrimination to talk about this with her.

"Cassie?"

"Hmm?" She had almost gotten one side of her cube solved, and it was the best she'd ever done.

"Why didn't you tell me no?" Paul asked his imprint quietly, his hands flexing down into the steering wheel.

Cassie glanced over at him in surprise. "Why _would_ I have told you no, Paul?" she replied, tilting her head to the side and causing a chunk of blonde hair to cover her eyes. She brushed it back absently. "I told you yes, and then I took my bra off. That's pretty much a non-no."

Paul slanted an unhappy look over at her. "Cass, when I ripped your shirt, I scared you. You were scared and you were ashamed."

"You surprised me, that's all," Cassie reassured him brightly, and then she gave him a sympathetic smile. "Paul? I know it's not something you want to talk about, but I have been with other people before. I am used to being unclothed, you know. And don't worry, I do know how to set boundaries."

"No, you don't."

"I'm sorry?" She raised an eyebrow at him, and Paul frowned unhappily.

"You were willing to sleep with me the first night you met me just because you were _bored_, Cass," Paul reminded her. "You may have forgotten, but I haven't. You weren't aroused, you just treated it as if sleeping with me was standard routine for you. That's not boundaries. And you stiffened that first night before you leaned in to kiss me, but you still kissed me. I knew something was off that night, but I got distracted with everything that happened afterwards with the Pack. So I'm asking now, Cass. Why didn't you tell me no, then? Why didn't you tell me no, now? What am I missing that I'm supposed to know?"

Cassie liked to smile. She liked to approach the world with pleasure, not pain, so it felt like a crime to watch that smile slowly slide off her face. He felt like a jerk, but he also didn't feel any rebuke from the wolf, so maybe this was the right thing to do, even if it hurt her. It wasn't that Paul expected Cassie to share her life story with him, but she was his _imprint_, and she was _never_ supposed to be scared of him. Cassie folded her legs up underneath her and tucked her arms into her sleeves, bowing her head.

"Promise not to get mad?"

"No."

"Paul," she said in frustration, but Paul shook his head.

"If it's worth getting mad, then I'll get mad. But it won't change things for us, Cass. Just talk to me."

Cassie licked her lips and glanced out the window. "I promised you this morning that I would talk to you about things eventually, but I thought I'd get more than a couple hours to figure out how to do it. This was supposed to be a happy day, Paul," she said a bit petulantly. "We were supposed to have fun today, and I don't want to ruin that with things that don't matter as much as you'll try to make them matter. Sharing's not always caring. Is it so bad to just want to enjoy today with you instead of sharing?"

"The day's not over yet," Paul rumbled and then he poked her in her side, saying seriously, "The first time I phased, Cass, I hated every single person on the reservation. I hated them so much that I wanted to hurt them. Men, women, kids, all of them. I hated them because I was supposed to protect them and die for them and they thought I was a freak. It took me years to get past that, and to stop wanting to punch every single person that looked at me too long. Now, your turn."

Cass turned that smile back on him, as if him sharing had made her whole day, and she leaned over and kissed his cheek. Then she took a deep breath and kept her eyes on him, as if to prove she didn't have to hide when she said what she was going to say. "I was raped in a room full of people by the first man I ever had sex with."

Yep. That was enough to get him mad. Raging fucking pissed was a little closer.

Cassie licked her lips as if the words had tasted strange. "You're the first person I've ever told that, besides my mother," Cassie admitted, "Although I guess that means the whole Pack is going to know. Oh well, it's not like I'm ashamed of myself. It wasn't my fault and I didn't do anything wrong. What a way to learn about sex though, huh?"

"Cass…_damn_ baby." He hadn't expected that. He never would have expected that.

"Yeah. I'm much better now but it kind of sucked, afterwards," Cassie said, seeming to have warmed up to the subject now that it had been broached. "Because I hated being surrounded by too many people, I hated being the center of attention, and I was utterly terrified of being touched. All of which doesn't work when you're a principal dancer in a company. The first time the male lead did a lift in rehearsal, I ended up sobbing in the dressing room for an hour. After rehearsal, though, because I was a _professional_ after all," she added, trying for a touch of humor.

It didn't work, because Paul didn't think there was anything funny at all about this. Someone had hurt his imprint, hurt her in a way that people shouldn't ever hurt someone else. No wonder them all surrounding Sims and scaring her like that had upset Cassie so much. They hadn't actually hurt Sims, but that hadn't been the case for Cassie. And Paul's little imprint trying to fight her way out of a group of men was as useless and Sims trying to fight her way out of the group of wolves. Both girls hadn't stood a goddamn chance. _Fuck_.

Cassie let out a little laugh, like she always did when she didn't know what else to do, and she snuck one of the cookies, munching it thoughtfully. "You know, everyone always acts like I'm this terrible whore because I sleep around so much, but it doesn't really hurt my feelings. Because I love people, Paul, I always have, and I hated being scared to be touched. I don't want to be scared of sex and I don't want to be scared of strangers. There's other reasons too that I'm not interested in talking about, but the choice to become physical with someone is kind of like therapy for me. It's kind of like when you fall down, you have to get right back up again. Sex was my way of proving I could still stand on my own two feet."

"It's not like that at _all_, Cass," Paul told her, almost angry at her for saying it that way. "That's…that's _so_ unhealthy, doing that! Shit baby, I'm not a shrink but even I could tell you that! No wonder you're all over the place half the time."

Cassie sighed and patted his arm soothingly. "I understand what you're saying, Paul, and yeah. Maybe my version of personal therapy isn't socially appropriate or even emotionally healthy. But my dancing brought prestige to my family. I was always on stage even when I was off it, and not every culture likes to flaunt their weaknesses the way Americans do. Here it's a social faux pas to _not_ be in therapy."

Cassie shook her head at that and handed Paul a cookie. He ate it because it was either do that or risk crushing the steering wheel.

She ate her own and then shrugged. "It's not a Russian thing, Paul. It was a my family thing. In my family, strength was important. Show no weakness, no matter what, and admitting I was a little messed up afterwards was a weakness that was inexcusable. It's not that I wouldn't drag another girl to a psych immediately for emotional counseling, it's necessary and important and I fully support it. But I didn't really have that option. It was either be scared or take control of my fears, and I absolutely _refuse_ to live my life as a victim, Paul. Every time I sleep with someone, whether I like it or not, whether I really like them or not, it's my choice. Sometimes I still I get scared and I get ashamed deep down inside, especially if the guy gets more aggressive than I'm ready for, but I still control that fear. I still smile and it's a real smile. You want to know why it's a real smile? Because even if the sex sucks, I still win. Every time I win. I'm not a whore, Paul, I'm _amazing_. Do you want another cookie?"

Paul trembled, and Cassie seemed to understand that she had upset him. Her little hands couldn't actually rub his rock hard shoulder muscles very well but she still leaned over and tried.

"It's okay, Paul," she promised and she kissed his cheek. Hell, she was trying to make _him_ feel better.

"Tell me about it," Paul managed to grind out, and even though she was smiling, Cassie shook her head.

"You really don't want to hear the details, and I don't really want to repeat the details, so let's not and say we did, okay?"

"Cass," Paul snapped, "If you won't tell me then I'll turn this car around and drive you to the best fucking shrink in this whole fucking country. I don't care if I have to pay the leeches off for the rest of my life to cover it. You can't just shrug off this shit!"

She softened and leaned her head against his shoulder, now rubbing his bicep gently. "You're so protective," Cassie murmured. "But you don't have to be, not in hindsight. You can't be angry about every bad thing that has ever happened to everyone you care about, you can't take all that responsibility on your shoulders, Paul. It's too much for one man. And in trying to take this from me, you're diminishing me. I beat the bad guy, Paul, all on my own. Maybe not the way you would have wanted, but I still beat him my way. I don't let the bad guys win, even if I still lose. Don't diminish me, Paul, be proud of me."

"Cass…"

"_I'm_ proud of me, Paul," Cassie told him quietly as Paul wrapped a trembling arm around her shoulders and crushed her to his side. "No one but you can pick up on my sex issues anymore, not unless they knew me before. But you can because you're my wolf and I'm your imprint and we're supposed to know each other. Unless you had asked, I wouldn't have ever talked to you about it, or anyone else for that matter. I've moved on, mostly anyway. Thank you for sharing, by the way, it means a lot that you did."

"Cass, please," Paul pressed. "Just tell me. You can't just not talk to anyone about this. It's so bad for you."

"It'll upset you more," she shook her head and Paul growled angrily. Not at her, though. Never at her.

"I'm a big boy, and I can handle it," Paul snapped. "This is important, this completely fucking changes how I view you, Cass."

"Ah. You thought I was a slut too," Cassie said softly in a disappointed voice. "That's a bummer. I understand though, because I can see how you would think the same way everyone else does. People see the cover before they read the pages. Did you know that some of the best books out there no one ever reads because they aren't bright and shiny enough? It's like people, no one bothers to at least read the table of contents, and that's only two pages in. Americans especially, you guys keep hiring movies stars as presidents and governors. Do you think the American public would vote for a washed up Russian ballerina if I was pretty enough? The Everythingist movement could easily become a political party and I think I could do a lot of good for the world-"

"Stop Cass. Don't change the subject. I just didn't understand you before, and I still kind of don't," Paul admitted in a low growl, "But I also didn't grow up the way you did. What's the fucker's name and where the fuck does he live?"

"Nope. We're not doing that, Paul, and language please."

"But-"

Cassie looked at him very seriously. "Paul, I _hate_ people hurting each other. I absolutely hate it, so why would I try to hurt someone else, even if they had hurt me? I'll protect myself, and I'll protect people that matter to me, but revenge…revenge is never one sided. I'm not breaking the person I want to be just to help someone else break me too. I won't sic you on anyone. Spiders maybe, but not people."

"You're scared to tell me," Paul whispered, hurt. "I'm your wolf, Cass. I'm _made_ for you, and you're scared to talk to me."

Cassie pulled out from under his arm. "If I tell you, you need to promise me you'll let it go when we're done. I've worked really hard to move this far past it and you can't pull me back down with your own insecurities. Okay, Paul?"

He grudgingly growled agreement. Cassie nodded and settled back in her seat, and this time she didn't look at him. Instead she looked at her cube, twisting it mindlessly. "I don't really want to get into all the details leading up to it," she said quietly. "There was a guy. My family approved. There was a date. My family still approved. He brought me to a business conference, held me down on a table in front of his business associates and had a good time for the better part of an afternoon."

"He did or they did?" Paul asked in a cold hard voice. Cassie didn't answer, and that was all Paul needed to know. He bit down his curse, deciding that one day, some day, someone was going to die. Several someones were going to die, although Cass just didn't need to know about it. She had him now, he'd take care of things quietly, behind her back.

"I went sobbing back home to my mother," she continued in a softer voice. "And I was told to fix my makeup and to never speak of it again. She gave me something to numb it all out and sent me back to the conference. When you have the attention of a powerful man that can help your family, you shut your mouth and do what's best for everyone involved. This time I smiled and told him I loved it."

"Why?" Paul asked through his soft snarl and Cassie gave Paul a little quirk of her lips but her hazel eyes were cold.

"Because _fuck_ him," Cassie said, her voice as hard as agate. "And fuck the rest of them too."

It was the first time Paul remembered hearing Cassie curse, and she then ducked her head and chuckled. "They only did it to make me cry anyways, so it took the fun out of it for them." Cassie sighed softly and paused with her cube, looking out the front window. "I was really angry with my mother for awhile, but then I found out some things…anyway, I'm not mad at her anymore. I'm not mad at myself for going back, either, because I had to."

"Why? Why the hell would your own goddamn _mother_ send you back there?" Paul was so pissed he was shaking and she once again offered him a cookie. It was like in Cass's world, horrible things were fixed by baked goods, or hugs, or smiles. _Dammit_. He took the cookie.

"I can't explain why," Cassie admitted. "I _won't_ explain why, but there's nothing like having the guts to walk back into hell on your own strength of will. And I view sex as proof of my strength, Paul, not my weakness. Some situations aren't the kinds you can just walk away from, and it's taken awhile to get where I'm at, but I know that I'll heal. It's only been a couple years, and I'm so much better. One day I'll be completely healed, if given enough time. I just need time, Paul. I'm not a victim. I'm not unhappy and I'm not ruined, I'm just a little…"

"Melted?"

Cassie's head shot up, and Paul saw her face soften again as she realized he remembered what she had once told him. "Ice cream still tastes good, though, even if it's melty," she said quietly, almost hopefully, and despite the fact that they were still driving, Paul reached for her. He kissed her mouth as gently as he could, and then he nodded seriously as he pulled away.

"Yeah. It still tastes good." Paul agreed, and Cassie laughed her soft breathy little laugh. Paul slipped his hand into hers and let the conversation fall quiet. He needed time to process what his imprint had told him. She had made him promise not to make this worse by freaking out about it. His human side said that he should throw a fit, find the bastard and kill him, but his wolf was quiet. It wasn't furious. Why?

Their mate was small but she was strong. She had fought her own enemies and she was here with them today. They would protect her now, so there was nothing to be angry about.

Was she really okay? Paul was worried…

The wolf believed she was. The wolf also believed that next time Paul should use his nose and learn to anticipate their mate's needs better. The wolf couldn't do all the work here, and it really wanted to mate with her. At the rate Paul was going, and how good Paul was at ruining everything, the wolf forlornly believed it would never happen.

"Okay, that was a little mean," Paul muttered.

"What was mean?" Cassie asked curiously, and Paul flushed, having been caught. But he had made her share, so he would too. Grudgingly, Paul pointed to his head.

"There's a wolf in there, it thinks I'm an idiot, and it really likes you," Paul grumbled. "It also thinks that it'll never get to mate with you if I don't stop blowing it."

Cassie stared at him and then suddenly she burst out laughing. "Aww, poor Paul. Everyone always asks more and more of you, don't they?" She patted his arm and offered him the rest of her cookie. At this point he had consumed nearly five dozen cookies today and Paul wasn't sure he could keep down any more. But she waggled it at him, and he was somewhat sure that he loved her, because his heart had crunched down at the seams and all he wanted to do was hold her _forever_. He ate the cookie.

"So it seems," he murmured around the baked good, wondering if he was going to be the only fat wolf in town when Cass was done with him.

"Can I talk to the wolf?" she asked in interest but Paul immediately shook his head.

"No," Paul said firmly. "Sims and Embry fell into that trap, and it scared the hell…heck out of all of us."

"Oh, Embry's birthday party?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I like my wolf safely on that side of the fence, thank you very much."

Cassie scooted in closer, her eyes bright with curiosity. "But the wolf's aware of me?" The wolf was always aware of their mate. She smelled much too good to not be aware of. Paul groaned as Cassie tugged on his arm. "Paul?"

"The wolf says that it's always aware of you," Paul admitted, then he mumbled, "And it thinks you smell good." Yeah, cause that wouldn't freak her out. But then again, this was Cass he was speaking to and instead of being freaked, Cassie just beamed.

"Really? That's nice." Oh lord, she actually blushed a little and the wolf was paying even more attention. "Can I say something to him?"

"Him?" Paul raised an eyebrow and Cassie grinned even as the wolf assured Paul that it was much more male than Paul would ever be. Ouch.

"Well obviously," Cassie smiled. "Can I?"

The wolf thought that it odd their mate was asking permission to speak. She never had at any other time prior, no matter what the situation, and Paul clamped down on his laugh. Instead he smiled at her, his tiny little imprint whom he'd make sure no one ever laid a goddamn _finger_ on ever again.

"Every time you talk to me, you talk to him too," Paul explained gently, making sure she didn't think he was making fun of her. Ever since Cass and her saucing, Paul had made an effort to only gently tease, not make fun. And now…now nothing but soft for her. Nothing but soft ever again.

"So the wolf heard all that?" Cassie looked dismayed and she sat back again. "He heard everything I told you?"

"You're worried what it thinks about you?" Paul squeezed her hand, shaking his head. "Baby, that's kind of…strange."

"It chose me, Paul," Cassie said sadly before dropping her voice down to a whisper. "What if it thinks it chose wrong?"

The tremble in her voice tugged at his heart, and Paul was about to reassure her when his wolf stood up and padded forward to the front of his mind. It rarely stood up and it never moved this close, an experience that was disconcerting, if not a touch frightening. Paul was used to the wolf being in the background, mild and maybe sometimes disparaging, and he wasn't used to how utterly massive its presence could be. The wolf allowed time for Paul to adjust, and then when Paul had recovered sufficiently, the wolf very politely asked permission to address their mate.

What? Oh, no. _God, no_.

The wolf wished there were others to guide this Pack of puppies besides themselves. Really, it wasn't done this way. There was a pause as the wolf tried to adjust its thoughts into human understanding. Paul was frightened from watching the sickened wolf, the one that should be culled, try and take over their Packmate. Paul was frightened from having fought the culled Pack. The wolf was neither sickened nor culled, and should not be treated as such. Human wives were for humans and females were for wolves, but the imprints were for both. The imprint bound the man and the wolf together even tighter, it did not break them apart. They were imprinted, and in that it was integral for the wolf and the man to cohabitate this form in peace. Paul feared needlessly and their mate was requesting the wolf's presence and in need of the wolf's reassurance. The wolf would not force the issue, but it would like to speak with their mate instead of relying on Paul's fumbling attempts at communication.

"It wants to talk to you," Paul said in a rough voice. "Do you want that, Cass?"

Cassie raised her eyes to his and after a moment of consideration, she nodded. They were almost to the reservation, and Paul wouldn't do this without Jake there. Paul wasn't Embry, he would keep Cassie safe. The wolf was content with that, their Alpha would reassure Paul and make this easier for it. So Paul pulled out his phone and hit speed dial number two. Number one was Cassie.

"Hey Jake?"

"Where you at, man?" the Alpha's voice came over the line, sounding amused. "Our welcome home party has been a little lacking. In fact, the only ones here are Brady and Collin and they're eating all the damn cake. It's kind of funny, they're both completely wasted and Sue's _pissed_."

Paul swallowed uncomfortably, knowing Jake could hear it. "This is gonna be a weird request, man, but Cass and I were talking about something and she's kind of upset. The wolf wants to talk to her, but I won't do it without you there."

Silence then, "Kind of upset or really upset and this is utterly necessary? Because I just got Embry put back together, Paul, so pulling you apart doesn't really appeal to me."

Paul slanted a look at Cassie. Was it utterly necessary? No. Was it going beyond his comfort zone to do something for his much more damaged than he'd realized imprint? Yes.

"She's in the middle."

This was the part where Jake would ask him if he was sure, but instead he just sighed. "Damn, I'm gone for just a little while and this becomes a fad or some shit. Okay, Paul, but I don't think you need me. If you trust yourself, then do it. If you don't, then don't. Just talk to me later about it…Dammit Brady, leave some fucking cake for the rest of us! That's an order, dipshit!" The line went dead as Jake shut his phone. Paul hung up his cell, dumbfounded.

"He said no?" Cassie asked, and Paul shook his head. They had just entered the rez, so Paul pulled over and parked off the side of the road.

"He said to figure it out myself." Paul ran a hand over his head and then looked over at Cassie. Her unhappiness had faded, being replaced by nervousness and anticipation. The wolf was still in the forefront of his mind, and he could feel its focus on her. Paul played it safe, that was his thing, he always played it safe. He had been furious at Embry and Sims for not playing it safe, and yet now he was sitting here contemplating the same damn thing. But it was for Cassie…

Bullshit. It was for him, because if he was going to go crazy like Embry had started to, if all of them were, Paul would rather know now than be scared for later. The reality was he didn't trust his wolf and he never had. But Jared trusted his and they never had any problems. The truth was they were all a little scared, all a little worried they would become the next Embry, and someone had to find out. They couldn't really risk it being the top wolves, they were too strong, and they couldn't risk the younger ones, who were still learning control. And Paul seemed to be the only one talking to his wolf this much. It might as well be him.

"I trust you," Cassie said softly, her small hand reaching for his. "Either way, Paul, but don't do something you're uncomfortable with just to cater to me. You're instincts are better than mine."

Paul wasn't so sure, and the wolf was in agreement. Asshole. Okay, how the hell was he supposed to do this anyway? The wolf sighed heavily. This one was so clumsy it was embarrassing. Well then help me, Paul growled in annoyance as he tried to open himself up to his wolf side. Paul thought that if the wolf would be a little less cryptic, this would be easier. Paul didn't know what to do what the wolf wanted. Paul—

The wolf exhaled through Paul's nose. "He thinks too much," the wolf told their mate, turning bright blue eyes her way. Their mate had grown very still as she watched the caramel color drain from Paul's irises, being replaced with the wolf's coloring.

The wolf didn't smile at her, it would never show its teeth to their mate, however it did inhale deeply and reach for her. Their mate smelled even better like this, against them instead of all the way over there. Paul was being very clear about something. If the wolf harmed a hair on her head, Paul was throwing them off a cliff. The wolf found that amusing.

"He doesn't trust us with you," the wolf murmured against their mate's throat, snuffing contentedly.

"Is Paul still in there?" their mate asked, sounding concerned, and he lightly licked her jaw to reassure her.

"I'm with us, he's with us. You're with us both," the wolf said as it moved on to do the same behind her ear. She was very small, but the wolf liked that in a mate. Larger stronger females were fine, but this one suited them best. Their mate was abnormally quiet, but then again the wolf always had been slightly confused by the female mind. "You are worried…Are we not suitable?" it asked, worry tingeing its voice.

"I don't understand," their mate admitted but she snuggled in closer, trustingly. The wolf liked that and was appreciative that at least Paul had taught her that they were warm and good for sleeping against.

Paul thought it was about time the wolf agreed with something he did.

"We chose you as our mate, but there is always the choice for you to not do the same. You are allowed to choose another," the wolf acknowledged, although the wolf did growl as the words came.

"I thought the imprint takes away the choice? We're…mated."

The wolf would never make a good man. It was a wolf and it had Paul to be a man for it. Speaking was…complicated for it.

"_We're_ mated to you. _You_ are not mated to us. It is your choice to accept or decline, although we are not without our benefits. We would make a very good mate for you, despite _his_ clumsy attempts at love-play. We'll try to play much better, if that would make you chose us."

"Really?" the mate seemed intrigued by that, and the wolf licked her throat, encouraged by her interest.

"We are very strong, and we are fast, and we hunt well," the wolf added proudly, nuzzling his nose across her shoulder. "We are third in our Pack and we run at the Alpha's side. We fight well. We would be a good mate."

"You're starting to convince me," their mate giggled and the wolf huffed a pleased breath against her skin.

"And we love you. We chose well," the wolf insisted, a soft whine in its voice as it nuzzled closer. "We can choose you again, if you are worried? And then we can choose you again because we like to choose you as our mate. And then we can choose you one more time because we like how you smell. And we can choose you again because we like how you feel and how-"

"And how about Paul stops _this_ conversation before that asshole cuts off what's left of my balls," Paul grumbled, and Cassie looked back up at him. His eyes were once again his own, and his embarrassment was definitely his own, because the wolf was back in the far recesses of his mind, happily listing all the things they liked about her. Cassie giggled and snuggled up closer.

"I like him," she decided with a chuckle. "That was a little strange, especially when your eyes went completely blue, but I like him." Blue, not black. Blue like the wolfborn, but not black liked the culled wolves. That was encouraging.

"Why?" Paul shook his head, feeling relief wash through him. "Because he likes you?"

"Yep. He said you both loved me," Cassie teased and Paul rolled his eyes.

"He's _obsessed_ with you," Paul smirked, wrapping her up tightly in his arms. "Did he make you feel better?"

"No, Paul. _You_ made me feel better," Cassie said loyally. "He just helped." Paul smiled at that and then rested his chin on her head.

Taking himself back had been easy, and even though Paul was pretty sure this wasn't something that he wanted to repeat again, it was a good lesson to learn. He was in control of his wolf, there was no huge internal struggle like Embry had faced. He really didn't have to be afraid, and in that knowledge, Paul could help his Pack to not be afraid as well. It was good to know, and now he could focus on more important things.

"Cass?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm never going to let anyone hurt you like that again," Paul promised her quietly. "I'm not going to keep pushing the issue, because I understand what you were saying. While I wish you had taken a different approach to healing, I can understand making the best of what you have left. But it'll _never_ happen again. I'm paying attention now. I'll catch it next time, when you smelled scared, and we'll work through it together, okay? But you need to talk to me, Cass, and no more internalizing this shit. You've got me now, and you can talk to me. You can tell me when things get bad in your head. And then someday you can tell me the rest of it, because I know there's more. This is just the tip of the iceberg, isn't it?"

"I just want to be happy, Paul," Cassie whispered softly, ignoring his question and pressing her cheek to his chest. "I _am_ happy, and I'm happier here with you…and the wolf too," she added with a little chuckle and Paul felt it rumble back acknowledgement of her statement.

She was silent for a long time and then she whispered, "Hey Paul?"

"Yeah, Cass?" He tilted his head so he could look down into her pretty hazel eyes. His imprint. His.

She gave him the smallest hopeful smile and asked softly, "Do you still want me? Now that you know?"

Did he still want her? Was the sky blue? Was it probably going to rain tomorrow? Was his world so utterly wrapped up in this girl that he wasn't sure how he had _ever_ been without her? When he was done, she was never going to ask him that again. She'd never wonder and she'd always be sure, because Paul was different. He was better and he was hers, just as much as she had always been his, even before he had ever met her. Damn straight he still wanted her.

Paul kissed his imprint's nose and rumbled gently, "Cass…I'm not sure that at this point I can stop."

Her smile, her real one, might just be better than anything else he had ever known. See? Paul didn't always say the wrong thing. The wolf thought it was about time.

* * *

Embry's truck was sitting outside the small house, and Jake could hear laughing inside even as he killed the engine to his bike. His phone rang and he glanced at the caller ID, not really wanting to answer if it was anyone but Pack. However the person calling he would always pick up for. Grinning, Jake flipped open his phone, relaxing back on his bike.

"Hey baby," he chuckled, "Did you miss me?"

"I'm not a baby anymore, Jacob," Renesmee's lilting voice told him seriously. "I _am_ three years old after all." Three going on twenty, he thought with a grin. Ness had never been a baby, not really, but Jake knew she liked him treating her like she was. Everyone else over there treated her seriously, at each appropriate age range she grew into. Jake just treated Ness like his favorite little girl in the world. It was so much easier for both of them that way.

"Really? Could have fooled me, Ness," Jake laughed, and at her huff of embarrassment he added, "Aww, honey, don't be mad. You know how much I missed you. See, I've barely been in town a couple hours, and look who I called first."

"I called _you_, and don't you dare try and sweet talk me, Jacob Black," the little girl said sternly, trying her best to sound like her father, and Jake's smile softened when he heard her voice quiver just the tiniest bit. "Aunt Rose said you almost died, and Uncle Seth and Aunt Leah almost did too. That wasn't very nice of any of you."

"We'll make sure to ask you first next time, Ness, so there's nothing to worry about, honey," Jake told her soothingly, thinking that fucking blonde leech bitch shouldn't be telling an eight year old _anybody_ almost died. The sound of running water reached his ears, along with a scent that he assumed was Embry's girl, Sims. Samantha. He thought Sims was kind of a dumb nickname, even if Claire had thought it up.

Jake wanted to meet Samantha, he wanted to see the girl that had made his only blood brother act like a love sick idiot these past five months, but first things first. Nessie needed a verbal hug, and if that didn't work, Samantha would have to wait until Jake gave Ness a literal hug. Maybe he'd go get Ness and just meet Samantha at the party like he was meeting Cassie. Unless of course Paul's wolf had eaten Cassie already, not that Paul would ever let that happen. Between Jake and Seth, they were determined to make Paul realize that he didn't need them holding his hand. Once Paul stopped being the good little soldier who always followed orders and finally started making his own, Paul would be one hell of a wolf.

"Grandpa said you were really sick, Jacob. Mother was so upset that she barely talked to even me, and no one would tell me anything until Grandpa got home." She sniffed but tried to hide it. Aww. Poor Nessie. And the Cullen's hadn't told her anything in case something _else_ had killed Jake on his way home. Thanks for the vote of confidence, assholes.

"Ness, you know me," Jake reassured the little girl who was half a vampire and all a child. A child who needed much more fun in her life than those ice cold leeches could ever give her. "I'm not going anywhere, and neither is Seth or Leah. We're having a party this afternoon to celebrate being back. Do you want me to come by and pick you up? That way you don't have to be worried anymore, baby."

"I wasn't worried," she assured him softly, but the second little sniff tugged at his heartstrings. Jacob Black would probably love Bella Swan until the day he died, obviously he still did long past the day _she_ had died, but some days Jake was pretty sure that he couldn't love anyone more than he loved Bella's little girl. If Edward Cullen just happened to meet with an unfortunate accident, Renesmee wouldn't go without. Jake would make _sure_ of that. Embry's girl was humming to herself as she moved about the kitchen and Embry was in the shower. Jake wondered why he was having such a hard time focusing on his phone conversation, especially when it was Nessie.

"Nessie? Do you want me to pick you up?" Jake asked. "I could ditch my bike and be there in minutes. Or I could drive, I know you like the bike even if your parents hate it."

"No, thank you, Jacob," Renesmee said politely, sounding only slightly disappointed. "You should be with the Pack. Uncle Seth said that they missed you a lot, and they need your attention too."

Jake could hear it in her voice that she was saying what she thought was proper not what she really wanted to do. Ness _always_ wanted to be around him, and he ate up the attention greedily. It was silly really, because he was nearly as attached to her as he was to the imprints, but Ness was a half vampire and not at all Quileute. Still she mattered, and it was sweet she was trying to be a big girl and be polite. Samantha wasn't humming anymore. Okay really, what was his problem?

"How about this, Ness," Jake told the little girl fondly. "I'll come by tomorrow morning, and you and I will spend the day together, just us. Sound good?"

Silence then, "Could you come by tonight, Jacob? Just so I know…" So she knew for a fact he wasn't dead. Oh Jake and Blondie were gonna have one serious goddamn talk.

"Of course, Ness," he promised, even as he walked towards the house. Huh. He didn't remember getting off the bike. "I'll see you later, baby. Tell Bells that I'm coming by so Daddy Vamp doesn't get toothy at me for breaking in," Jake joked, making a growly noise that left Renesmee giggling and agreeing before very politely ending the call.

He was smiling when he hung up the phone, pleased that he had made her sound happier. She was just a little girl after all and was much too serious. Growing up in a coven of leeches was a pretty fucked up environment in Jake's opinion and he liked reminding all of them that Ness was still just a kid. And when she wasn't a kid anymore, Jake was gonna have a field day teaching her to sneak out and curse and actually _live_. He was looking forward to it. Still smiling, Jake knocked on the front door, listening to the water shut off.

"Knock knock loverbirds," he called teasingly. "I've been sent to fetch you two and there better be clothes."

No really, there better be. Jake had been told the two had been going at it like rabbits since Embry getting home, and Jake had absolutely no desire to see his brother or his brother's girl in any sort of compromising…position…

The door had opened. An average looking girl with whipped cream on her cheek and her finger in her mouth was standing in the doorway looking up at him. Her eyes widened slightly as if she was confused, and Jake felt his whole world tilt. This wasn't Bella Swan. This wasn't Leah Clearwater. This wasn't Renesmee Cullen. This was Samantha Carter, this was Embry's girl, this was his brother's whole goddamn existence.

This was…Jake's imprint.

_Oh fuck_.


	13. Chapter 11 Part Two

A/N This is the second part of chapter 11, and it SHOULD have been up days ago. Instead my laptop crashed and I didn't have the chapter backed up. So now I finally have a new laptop and the nice people at Best Buy recovered the chapter for me and here we are, days later. Sorry guys. Erg. So annoying... I'll give call outs to chapter eleven reviewers at the beginning of chapter twelve, and don't feel like you have to review this. It's just the rest of the chapter and you guys already gave me a whole bunch of nice reviews already. Also REALLY IMPORTANT. You MUST have read the epilogue of Book One for this to make sense. This starts right after Jake leaves Embry's after imprinting on Samantha.

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Eleven (Part Two)

* * *

For the first time in nine months, Jake wanted to be anywhere else but home.

The Alpha wanted to be alone, the Alpha _needed_ to be alone, and after being away for so long, it was more tempting then it ever should have been to just run. Phase and run away, block his mind from the Pack and bolt, leaving them in Seth's capable hands and never looking back. Jake would be lying if he said he didn't make it to the reservation borderline, he would be lying if he said he didn't almost blow past it on his motorcycle and keep going. No one would ever know, no one would be able to ask, and no one would find him again.

Embry would never have his world shattered.

He had imprinted. Jacob Black had imprinted, and as bad as he had feared it would be, Jake had never thought it would be this bad. His imprint's scent was still in his nose, her quiet voice pleading with him still in his ears. She had looked at him like he had broken her heart today, and Jake hadn't been prepared for that. Prepared for imprinting? Yes. Prepared to feel that life altering pull? Yes. Prepared to fight it? Hell yes. But he hadn't been prepared to hurt his imprint with just one look. He hadn't been prepared to imprint on someone who would view it as badly as he did himself. Jake loved the imprints, he adored them, but for the other guys. Not for him. Never for him.

Apparently never for Samantha, either.

Well, if Jake disappeared, it wouldn't be a problem anymore. Embry wouldn't know, Samantha wouldn't have to stand in front of anyone and plead them to not destroy her world, and Jake wouldn't have to worry about imprinting anymore. Samantha had given him an out simply in not wanting him. She already had someone, someone that loved her to the point of stupidity, and that was good. That wasn't supposed to hurt him, but no one liked rejection, not even if Jake had been ready to reject her. Samantha had just beaten him to the punch.

And still…Jake wasn't sure if this was hurt he was feeling, because he was using every trick he had ever learned to shut down the bond between them. He was trying to block her out to the point that it was almost painful, and yet Samantha was still present, pulsing inside him like a vein tied with a tourniquet. Aching, constant, _there_. She was there in the back of his soul, and he could feel her steadily growing panic. Jake clamped down on their bond even harder, trying to drown her out. It was almost working, if he focused on doing nothing else, which could become very inconvenient very quickly.

Jake didn't know much about Samantha Carter, but he did know this: that quiet exterior was just a cover. The person Jake had just been tied to had a volcano inside of her, if a tightly controlled and capped off one. Jake didn't know if that was Samantha's doing, her strength of will, or if Embry was that cap, but Jake's instincts said that it could be bad for his imprint if she lost Embry. Really bad. If Embry lost her, it could be even worse. The only thing standing in the way was Jake, and that wasn't a place he had ever wanted to stand. And even though Jake wasn't _actually_ in between his brother and his brother's girl, Embry wouldn't see it that way. Embry would step aside, because he was Pack, and that was what Pack did. They put their brothers first, and if Embry was the one in control, then Embry would do it too. Embry would try to give Jake and Samantha a chance to be together, a chance neither wanted. Thank god the wolf wasn't in control right now, because who knows what it would have done.

If Jake was gone, then it wouldn't matter, not even if his imprint couldn't live with lying to the man she loved. Right now Jake was awash with guilt, but he didn't regret his decision to hide this from Embry one bit. This was Samantha's guilt pushing at him. Damn, he didn't want to be a part of this. Jake could talk to Bells, she would understand running from hard decisions, since everyone knew she was the best at it. Maybe he'd go to Europe for awhile, give the imprint time to grow brittle, even if it couldn't break completely. Give Embry time to love Samantha, to marry her, to give her a home and babies and time to build their life together. Then he'd come back when there was no breaking them, because the only home Jake had ever been willing to wreck was the one Bella Swan had been convinced she wanted. Maybe he'd learn a trade or some shit, run a McDonald's instead of a Pack, or actually go to a school where he learned something.

Despite the seductiveness of that thought, when he hit the borderline, Jake slammed his bike to a stop, the tires skidding on damp asphalt. Damn. He had run away once and had been forgiven. He had left again, and it had been accepted as necessary. But leaving now? Leaving without a word, without a reason given to his Pack, the people who mattered to him the most? That would be betrayal, and the sad truth was that Jake loved his Pack more than he loved his brother. If he left now, it would be best for Embry. If he stayed, it would be best for everyone else. And at this point Jake had no fucking clue what would be best for Samantha.

His imprint was in love with his brother, and she didn't want Jake. Jake didn't want her, so he should go. But Embry was sick. Embry was sick in a way that could hurt Samantha, and wanted or not she was Jake's imprint. She was tied to him and already he was uncomfortable with this, uncomfortable with her proximity to possible danger. Jake had been uncomfortable with her closeness to Embry when he was just Jake's sick brother and Samantha was just Jake's sick brother's girlfriend. Now she was Jake's imprint, and he had left her alone with a wolf who may or may not be in risk of losing his mind.

Jake should stay.

But Jake had never wanted any of this shit in the first place. He wanted Bella in his bed and a bike in his front drive and a normal life. He should go, and let Embry have what Jake had let slip through his fingers the moment Bella died. He really should go.

If Embry hurt Samantha it was on Jake's head, and it would _kill_ Embry because Embry loved her so much. He should stay.

Jake was the Alpha, but this imprint…this imprint bond was so _strong_. Even shoving it all the way down into the recesses of his mind, Jake still felt her. He could close his eyes and point and say exactly where she was. He knew she was upset but trying to control it, he knew she was either hungry or sick to her stomach, and he knew that she was worried. More than that he knew Samantha was scared. Scared of him. Scared of him taking Embry from her. His imprint was afraid of him on top of not wanting him. Shit. He really should go.

Jake didn't know what to do. Closing his eyes, the young Alpha slumped on his bike and waited, waited for the voices in his head to tell him like they had been doing for months now. Then he grimaced, because their list was long and the ancestors didn't really care about Jake's personal life. Jake didn't know why he had bothered to ask. He had known he'd never cross the borderline before he even got here, and he had just allowed himself a moment to believe he was undecided. He had allowed himself a moment to be reckless and stupid and selfish. But Jake was the Alpha. As much as it pissed him off, Jake knew what he had to do, and he didn't need the ancestors in his head to tell him. He would stay. He wasn't leaving his Pack again.

Seth wanted to know what was wrong.

It was inconvenient sometimes, being tied this closely with his Beta. _Privacy_, Seth. Privacy when the Alpha was having a _moment_ here. The Beta felt a lot of things in their lives were inconvenient, but they couldn't really change them, and privacy was a luxury even the Alpha wasn't allowed. What was wrong? What was wrong was that Jake had just proved why it was better for Embry to be a Call than a Black. Because Blacks betrayed the people they loved without even trying. Because Blacks would always pick someone else over Embry, every single damn time.

Seth didn't have much to say to that.

Jake sighed and muscled his bike around. It didn't matter, Seth. Everything was fine, Embry and Samantha were on their way and Jake would be there soon. Silence, then Seth's voice soft in his thoughts, the Beta's worry barely suppressed. Promise? Jake promised, and Seth slipped from his mind.

It was a promise he would keep. Jake had been gone far too long, and he was needed here. He was tied here, and there would be no more running, not even from a girl with whipped cream on her cheek and tears in her eyes, begging him not to take away the most important thing in her life. At least Samantha loved Embry as much as Embry loved her, and that was something Jake could focus on. There was no time but the present to figure out how to get used to being around her, because the Pack might view her as an unofficial imprint, but Samantha was the real deal. She was in. There was no avoiding her, now that she was Pack. Jake swung around and gunned his bike, heading back to La Push and the people that needed him. Imprint or not, he was determined to make this a good night.

After all, tomorrow would be here soon, and Jake and his Pack had work to do.

* * *

Embry wasn't sure why Sims was holding on to him this tightly.

It wasn't that he minded. Hell, Embry would be perfectly fine having his hands on his girl for the rest of ever, but Sims wasn't normally the clingy type. Ever since getting into the truck at his place, she had been holding his hand and that was normal. But when they had gotten to Seth's she had still held his hand, and that was abnormal. They had beaten Jake there and Paul had sent Jared a message begging rescue from Cass and her "getting ready process", but everyone else was gathered on the front porch, mulling about like a Pack of…well, wolves.

Parties were backyard business, but they were waiting for the whole Pack before the party to officially began, their first time being all together the way they were supposed to be. And after murmuring hellos to the imprints, greeting the wolves, and shooting a rare smile Brady's way for saving her a piece of pineapple cake, Sims had once more glued herself to Embry's side. If it hadn't been so good having her there, if he hadn't felt so much better with his wolf in check, Embry might have been concerned. But he was just too happy.

Damn, Embry was glad Jake was back.

The wolf was quiet in his head, so blessedly quiet that Embry was tempted to pretend that it didn't even exist in there. Jake had put the whammy on the wolf down in Mexico and Embry had felt more like his normal self this last week then he had in months. And man, did that feel good. Their pie was in the kitchen, Sims was in his arms, and his Pack was around him. Yeah, life really was pretty great.

"I love you Embry," Sims said softly, and he smiled against her hair. They were leaning against the house, watching two very drunken pups wrestling around on Seth's front yard, with Brady trying just a little harder than normal. Leah and Quil were cheering for Brady because it had been pick on Collin week, and everyone was going out of their way to show how very proud they were of Brady right now. Seth had wandered off, his eyes slightly glazed, so they knew he was speaking with Jake and so they left him alone. Watching Seth out of the corner of his eye, Embry kissed the top of Sims' head.

"I love you too, sweetheart," he told her gently, hugging her up a little tighter, and Leah shot them a smile. In a rare display of affection from both females, when Sims had hopped out of Embry's truck, she had launched herself at the she-wolf and Leah had hugged Sims right back. Just to be annoying, Seth had picked up both girls and swung them around a few times before declaring himself the best looking of the Clearwater siblings trio, and Embry had hidden his smile at Sims's confused expression. His girl had no idea she was being courted by the Clearwater's, or that their entire family was hell bent on stealing her away from Joe Carter.

They were a little late because Embry was already on that.

Sims smelled different, like she was nervous, but Embry knew that she still hadn't completely gotten over the Pack's attempt at making her phase. There were a lot of wolves around her now, and it was only natural that she'd be a little wary. Instead of helping Sue in the backyard like the other imprints, Sims was staying glued to Embry's side. Pressing her nose against Embry's arm was her silent way of letting him she was uncomfortable, and of course he was going to hold her even closer, especially when her short fingernails dug into his arms to pull him even tighter. He'd hold her forever with a smile on his face, and never regret a second of that. But still, Sims was being…clingy. And it was odd.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Embry asked her softly, even though he knew the rest of the Pack could hear him. It was part of being a wolf, helping the girls have an illusion of privacy. Sims grimaced, but then she raised her face to him, looking at him as if she was drinking in his every feature.

"Yeah. It's just that a lot of stuff has happened, Embry," she told him quietly. "At least before I knew I didn't fit in and that was fine. I understood that role. But now…now I have no idea where I stand with the Pack. I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"You stand with me, Sims," Embry told her seriously, entwining their fingers and lifting her hand, brushing a kiss across her knuckles. "Not behind me or in front of me. You stand _with_ me and I stand with you. And they stand around us, and that's how it's supposed to be."

"You make it sound so simple," she shook her head as if he was wrong, which made Embry chuckle. He was pretty sure that of the two of them, he understood Pack a little bit better. But she'd get used to it, it would just take his stubborn girl awhile to adapt. He'd help her.

"The best things always are simple," Embry told Sims with a smile. Then he tipped her face up and kissed her. It was a long kiss, not meant to arouse but to reassure her that he was close, that they were together, and that everything was okay. Embry felt the eyes on them long before he broke the kiss, and then he grinned over Sims's head at Seth. "Is he coming or what?"

The Beta had returned and was smiling at Embry, and he was smiling at Sims, although it hadn't passed Embry's notice that Seth never actually smiled at them together.

"Yeah, Jake's on his way," Seth said, hoping up on the porch and standing next to them. "Hey, bunny lop." The Beta tugged Sims's ponytail and she glared at him.

"Seth, quit it! I'm going to cut all my hair off just so you can't do that anymore," she threatened and Embry made a sad noise. He liked her hair. Sims shot him an amused look before returning her attention to Seth. "And what do you mean, bunny lop?"

The Beta grinned at her and tugged her hair again. "You know, because you're getting all fluffy bunny timid on us again, Sims. And I can tell you exactly where you stand in the Pack. You don't."

And with that, Seth snatched up Sims and threw her over his shoulder, much as he often did to Leah. Sims screeched and began cursing at him, punching Seth in any available soft spot she could find while Seth twirled her in circles. Embry laughed, thinking it was nice to not be going crazy because one of the other wolves was touching her. Brady glanced over at the screech and ended up with a foot to the temple, his eyes glazing slightly. Embry smirked. Well, served the pup right.

Then suddenly Embry laughed. He had missed this, he had missed being him. He had missed the Embry that trusted his Pack, who smiled instead of snarled. Embry didn't hurt, he wasn't angry, he wasn't nervous. He was fixated on his girl but not to the point of insanity, and it was about time. Sims had put up with him being crazy, even though he and the wolf had done their best to hide it from her, but now there was nothing to hide. And Jake had ordered Embry to tell the Pack exactly what he felt, all the time, that way it would be easier to know if Embry's wolf started taking over again. So Embry hopped up on the railing and looked at his Pack. They had been watching him a touch warily as Seth continued to make Sims yelp and curse, and Embry grinned at them.

"In case anyone's interested, the Embry forecast today is sunny with a minimal chancy of crazy," Embry chuckled, and the Pack turned relieved faces his way, Leah even barking out a laugh. Seth paused, a wide grin splitting the Beta's face as Embry yelled to the neighborhood, "Forecast tonight says that Jake better get his ass over here or we're starting this party without him!"

The Pack whooped, the imprints inside laughed, and from her place draped over Seth's shoulder, Sims looked about to cry. No one but Brady even bothered to notice.

* * *

"How would this look?"

Cassie held up one of Paul's black tank tops, the stretchy kind that would cling to a much smaller waist than his, waggling it his way. Paul dropped his head back on his bed and groaned, rubbing his hand across his face.

"Cass," Paul said in the absolutely sweetest voice he could manage. "I know you and I had this whole deepening of our relationship thing today, and trust me, I'm really glad about that. But baby if you don't just _pick_ something, I think I might have to murder you."

Obviously the threat meant nothing to her because Cassie kicked his foot, the one closest to her, to get his attention. "Yeah, but how does it _look_?"

"It looks fine," Paul grunted.

"You said that about the white one," she reminded him. "And also the grey one, but that's out."

"The white one was fine too."

"Paul! You're not helping here! And as the person who destroyed my previous wardrobe, you're required to be involved in the selection of the replacement. If I look bad, at this point it's your fault, not mine. Black or white?"

"Cass, you couldn't look bad if you tried," Paul sighed, and he heard more than saw her smile at that. "And wear the black."

"White it is," Cassie chirped, and she bounced off to the bathroom to change. From his position on the floor next to the bed, a box of cookies on his lap, Jared chuckled.

"She's cute man," Jared said, dipping deeply into the cookies. "Indecisive but cute, and Jake's gonna think none of us love him at this point. How are you not eating any of these? They're freaking awesome, dude."

"Long story," Paul muttered shuddering as Cassie bounced back in, wearing the black layered over the white.

"Paul ate all of my cookies so we had to buy more from Baba," Cassie told Jared, a huge smile on her face. "Four dozen, can you believe it? I know you guys are wolves, but attacking the entire supply of desserts for the party is a little overboard. Paul's going to be the roly poly wolf. Well, I'm ready."

Jared gave Paul an amused look, and Paul just shook his head, mouthing the word 'later' as he grabbed Cassie's hand and followed her out of the cabin. They left Cass's car at the cabin and rode in Jared's car to Seth's, and if Cassie noticed the poor condition of Jared's car, she was much too interesting in making out with Paul in the back seat to say anything. Apparently opening up had been such a novel experience for Cassie that it had left her slightly vulnerable, and in being so, she was naturally gravitating to Paul. Concurrently, Paul had learned some things about Cassie that had made his overprotective nature go into overdrive, and he had not taken his hands off of her since getting to his house and meeting Jared, except for when she was changing.

It was just a theory, but Paul was trying to see if he could erase years of damage to his imprint with just his mouth and his affection. He was thinking it was possible, if the way she melted every time he held her close was any indication.

The moment they had gotten into Jared's car, Paul had dragged Cassie across his lap and wrapped her up in his arms, his nose buried in her hair and his heart on his now non-existent sleeve. Pack parties were shirts optional, and he was the third, dammit. If anyone even tried to make fun of him, they would die, because not kissing his imprint felt like a crime right now. No one better say shit. Well, no one but Jared, that was.

"Paul and Cassie, sitting in a tree," Jared was singing cheerfully as he turned down the road Seth and Leah lived on, sticking his head out of the open window. "K-I-S-S-I-N-Gee, there's Kim. Hey Kim, look who finally hooked up! Cass's teaching Paul to French kiss in Russian! It's much more guttural sounding."

Cassie hadn't known where Seth lived, so she had chosen that moment to turn on Paul's lap and grab his face, kissing Paul aggressively as her tongue flickered across his. So the whole Pack, who were gathered on the front porch waiting for the last three members and Jake to arrive, had a great view of Cass's tongue in his mouth and his hands on her ass. You know, just to keep her balanced.

"Jared, you dick," Paul growled as Cassie burst out laughing, not flushing at all when a grinning Embry smacked the partially opened window by Paul's head and let out a whoop.

"About time Paul was getting some ass," Embry teased through the glass, and a drunken Collin pressed his face to the window and made smooching faces against it.

"Oh momma," Collin cooed, "Papa wolf's been so lonely with nothing but him and his hand to keep him company all these years…" Then he yelped as Paul reached over Cass's head and grabbed the back of Collin's neck, holding him prisoner and squashed against the glass as Cassie giggled.

"Hey, someone drive around the block, will you?" Paul called, and since he was the third, of course they jumped to obey. In fact not only did Jared happily drive around the block while poor drunken Collin scrambled to keep his feet beneath, Leah and Seth decided to sit on the top of the car and call encouragement every time Jared slammed on the brakes.

Collin kept making gagging noises. Paul wasn't sure if it was because of him and Cassie returning to making out while Paul held Collin trapped next to them, or if Collin was actually choking. Paul figured if Collin passed out, then he'd bother checking.

"Is he okay?" Cassie finally asked as they broke off the kiss, Paul's free hand entangled in her hair.

"He'll be fine," Paul murmured, pulling her back in. Kissing her was good. Kissing her was very good.

Somewhere along the line Paul had pity and dropped the pup in the street, turning his entire attention to his imprint as Jared whistled happily and headed back to Seth's. He kissed her shoulder as carefully as he could, thinking that he could do soft, but he would learn to do even softer. He'd learn to touch her like she was porcelain if that was what she wanted. Things were starting to click into place, things she had said, moments they had spent together. There had always been so much more underneath her words, and even though Paul knew there was more he didn't know, things had changed.

Paul had once felt that there was no way his imprint could possibly need him. That her world, as much as he disapproved of it, had provided her with _everything_ she could possibly need. But he had been wrong, because while Cass might be better off materialistically, he had never seen her smiling nearly as happily as she was when he pulled her out of the car behind him, her small hand tucked in his larger one and two boxes of cookies under his arm. A very deliberate growl at the assembled wolves made the snickering die down, and after passing a hustling Sue the baked goods, Paul plopped down on Sue's beloved rocking chair and dragged Cassie back into his lap.

He would probably let her go a year or so from now. Maybe. If she was lucky.

Cassie was peering around curiously at the Pack, and then back inside the open front door. "Paul? Where is he? I thought we were the late ones?"

"Jake took a short side trip, Little Bit," Seth told her from where he stood next to Sims and Embry. "He's almost here." The younger girl was sandwiched between the two of them, Embry's arm around her waist and Seth's elbow on her shoulder, the Beta playing idly with her hair. Unlike Cassie's fear, Sims's fear was much easier to smell and Paul glanced askance at Seth. Seth just shrugged ever so slightly, he didn't know what was wrong with Sims, but his eyes told Paul that Seth wasn't happy.

Paul was pretty sure it was because of how many of them were around her, and a surge of guilt tore into his stomach as he pulled his little imprint closer. Cassie just sighed happily and leaned into Paul's embrace, not at all nervous, that is until the Pack all sat up as the sound of a motorcycle grew in the distance. Sam trotted out of the woods, shirtless and barefoot, to take his place briefly with the Pack, leaving the borders unguarded just for a minute because of the importance of this moment. The importance of them all being together again at last. Embry was rubbing circles on the girl's hip, and Seth kept tugging her ponytail to try and annoy her into distraction. At this point Sims seemed oblivious to their attentions, and a moment before the motorcycle engine grew audible to the human ear, she closed her eyes, looking about half sick.

This time no one noticed. That's because the Alpha was finally there.

* * *

The Alpha was there.

A hush had grown over the gathered wolves, and they seemed to collectively lean forward in anticipation. The Alpha was huge, nearly seven feet tall, his muscular body dwarfing the large motorcycle he was riding. Cassie felt Paul tense slightly, and the breathing next to her ear deepened. Paul was leaning forward too, and his hand on her waist clamped down a little tighter. The whole group was holding their breath as Jake killed the motorcycle and fluidly stepped off, his russet skin tanned deeply as if he had spent months in the sun. Everything about him commanded attention, and to her surprise, Cassie realized that she was holding her breath too.

Jake brushed his shaggy black hair out of his eyes and then turned to the Pack, his gaze sweeping over them, every single one. Cassie sat up a little straighter as deep brown eyes landed on her, and the Alpha took her in for a moment longer than the others before moving on. The weight of his attention was heavy, reminding Cassie of that day on Pier 57, when she had met the Saskatchewan Alpha. This was the man who had been strong enough to fight Tupkuk for control of Paul from hundreds of miles away. This was the man that could speak a single word and these incredibly strong willed people would hit the ground running to obey.

Cassie glanced at the other imprints. Emily had appeared out of the house and was holding Sam's hand tightly, but she was smiling, and at Jared's side in her leg cast and on crutches, Kim was beaming. Leah was grinning fiercely as if she was proud as hell of their Alpha, Seth seemed more relaxed than Cassie had ever seen him be, and Embry was watching Jake like the Alpha was his own personal hero.

Samantha looked scared to death.

In their days together during the culled Pack war, Cassie had gotten to know the other girl a little better, enough to know that Sims rarely showed any emotion on her face at all. The only time Cassie had seen Sims scared was when Brady had howled that a vampire had broken the border and Sims had been running back to the dojo. Cassie had dashed to unlock the door, and then and only then she had seen fear in Sims's eyes. It hadn't lasted long. The younger girl had grabbed some scary looking chain thing that had freaked Cassie out even more than the vampire had, and that fear had been replaced with a cold implacableness that Cassie was pretty sure she herself had never felt.

The fact that Sims looked so scared now, when everyone else was so happy, made Cassie feel bad for her. This was the man who in the end had allowed the attempt to get Sims to phase, this was the man that controlled Sims's wolf too, only Sims wasn't an imprint. She didn't have a solidified place in this Pack, at least not in Sims's mind. Cassie understood that. She understood being afraid of a strong man, and she understood that feeling of not belonging. When the Alpha's eyes rested on Sims, the poor thing flinched, unnoticed by the giants around her.

So while Sims looked scared, and the Pack looked anticipatory, Cassie looked at her boots. Well girls, they had some work to do.

To Paul's surprise, Cassie stood up smoothly, tugging the top of her knee high boots before deliberately adjusting her skirt and her shirts. She knew she wasn't at her best, Paul had been going nuts earlier in waiting for her and she had just slapped herself together at his house, but Cassie knew how to work with what she had. Throwing a wink at Paul to warn him she was about to start problems, Cassie stepped deliberately between Sims and Jake, breaking the Alpha's gaze and bringing his attention to herself. And just like she had done for years, Cassie tilted her head to the side and let the corner of her mouth twitch up in an amused smile. These guys were wolves, and wolves relied heavily on body language. Let's see if this Alpha was as good as everyone was saying he was.

Jake's own lips had curved into a smile as Cassie and her boots strutted right off the porch and on up to him, and his smile only widened when Cassie quite deliberately stepped too close, pushing into Jake's personal bubble. She was ridiculously short next to him, the Alpha had nearly two feet of height on her, but when Jake didn't seem to mind her intrusion into his personal space, Cassie licked her lips and stepped in even closer.

"So," she hummed, letting her eyes sweep down Jake's body with deliberate slowness, as if she was evaluating every single inch of him. "_You're_ the Alpha." Cassie took her time bringing her gaze back up, and by the time she had reached Jake's face, he was grinning at her boldness. He flashed white teeth at her and then he took his own step forward, making Cassie have to choose between stepping back or standing with her breasts nearly touching Jake's stomach. She held her ground.

"So," he chuckled back. "_You're_ the imprint."

"So I am," Cassie agreed, and then she raised her eyebrows curiously. "You're shorter than I expected. Aren't Alphas supposed to be big and manly?"

Jake stared at her for a second and then barked out a laugh. Someone behind her was snickering, and Cassie was pretty sure it was either Jared or Sam, because they seemed the least overwhelmed by the presence of the Alpha.

"I'm bigger than you," Jake told her with a wink and Cassie sighed.

"Yeah, but not by enough," she said sadly. "But I guess you'll do." She tapped her nails lightly against his chest and gave him a considering look. "You're a little scrawny, but I think I can work with it. So Jake, tell me, are you still a virgin?"

"Am I a _what_?" This time the Alpha choked in surprise, and Leah started laughing as Cassie took that as her cue to press forward a little closer.

"Aww, that's kind of sweet," Cassie hummed, sweeping her eyes over him again. "_I'm_ not a virgin, and neither are any of the _rest_ of those guys back there, but since you're the Alpha, we can overlook it. After all, being the big man on top doesn't mean you _have_ to know what you're doing up there, just as long as you're the other part. I'm assuming that they build Alphas proportionally correct these days?"

Paul was probably going to kill her for this later, but Cassie was doing this for Samantha, so she hit a suddenly flushing Jake with a dirty smirk and she shoved her hands down his front pockets. Cassie viewed it as a personal victory when the startled Alpha took step back, snatching her wrists and pulling her hands back to the safety zone. But it was too late. She had him retreating, and he never should have done that. Cassie made a purring noise in her throat as she and her boots stepped closer, and she bit her lip before licking it beneath his confused gaze.

"Out of curiosity Jake, how are you with threesomes?" Cassie asked him, smirking bigger when Jake took another step back, his eyes a little wild as his hips hit the motorcycle. "Because I'm in an emotionally committed relationship with someone else right now, but I think Paul and I could squeeze you into our schedule." She let her fingers drift down his chest, and he snatched her wrists a second time when they reached his lower abdominals and threatened to drift lower.

"Umm, Paul? Your imprint?" Jake started to say, but Cassie cut him off smoothly. Alpha commands would not save Jake, not today.

"Paul? The virgin's cute. Can I have him? Pretty please?" Cassie asked her boyfriend sweetly, not breaking the hold she had on Jake's eyes, because she was pretty sure when thus guy got over the fact that she kept trying to stick her hands down his pants then he'd realize that she was just messing with him. "I'll make it worth both your whiles," she offered enticingly, causing Jared to choke on his beer.

"I'm _not_ a virgin!" Jake managed to get out, but then with a smirk Cassie pounced.

Jake might have been the Alpha, but he was much better with unrequited love than he was the real thing, a point of interest that Paul had once shared with her. The fun part for Cassie was the sound of horror Jake made when she jumped up, wrapping both arms and legs around the Alpha, her mouth glued to his. Jake let out a grunt of surprise and in his effort to dislodge his friend's girl, Paul's _imprint_, before she did irreparable damage to Jake and Paul's relationship, Jake stumbled into his motorcycle and knocked himself and the bike off balance. It was either keep the imprint from hitting the bike or keep from hitting the ground in front of his Pack. So with a curse and the crunch of metal, Jake ended on his ass on the other side of his now tipped over motorcycle, Paul's sexual spider monkey of an imprint still locked on top of him.

"Aww fuck," Jake groaned when he heard the crunch, his hands on Cassie's hips where he had grabbed her to keep from dropping her when he'd fallen. She beamed down at him and then gave him a little pat on the chest before standing up, leaving the Alpha on the ground, wondering what exactly had just happened to him.

"_Lan-_guage, Jake," Cassie chirped and then she smiled over at Paul, who had stood up and was leaning against the railing to get a better view. He looked a mixture of jealous and amused, and Cassie winked at him again. "Sorry Jake, I still like Paul better," she said brightly. "But when you get rid of that pesky virginity thing, give us a call. Paul and I like to keep our relationship spiced up. After all, what's an imprint without a little sexual deviancy mixed in?"

Cassie and her boots left the Alpha on the sidewalk, a little smile playing about her lips as she walked past Paul and over to a slightly shocked looking Sims. Cassie gave Sims's hand a squeeze, ignoring Embry and everyone else as she smiled playfully. "Don't be scared of him, Sims. He may be large, but he's just a boy, and the ones you can't knock on their butts, just let me know. I'll take them down," Cassie grinned back at the downed Alpha, then she cheerfully plopped down in the seat Paul had vacated, crossed her legs and stared at her nails. Hmm. She was starting to chip this one.

"Umm, guys? What just happened?" Jake asked his Pack, pushing himself off the ground with a befuddled expression, and the Pack, who had so far managed to contain their amusement, burst out laughing.

"You just got Cassied, Jake," Seth beamed from his place on the porch. "She's our little attack imprint. Cass is effective, huh?"

Jake gave Paul a slightly confused and worried look, but the older wolf just grinned and crossed his arms. Reassured that Paul wasn't going to grow fluffy out of a jealous rage (Cass _had_ kissed Jake after all and groped him a touch too thoroughly), Jake righted his bike and turned back to the Pack.

"Oh Cassie?" he rumbled darkly, causing Paul to smirk even bigger.

"Yes, Jake? Or should I call you Jacob? Mr. Black is your father, so maybe I could just call you Buck, like in Call of the Wild. But then again I suppose that White Fang would be a more apt fit, what with the wolf being tamed instead of the dog turning wolf, but then again I don't know you well enough yet to decide. Tell me, Jake, what rules your nature? The desire for love or the desire for freedom? Mine's the desire for Paul, so I think I'm ruled by both. Isn't it nice being not-quite-yet-loved by someone who enhances your life and makes it grow instead of sucking it into something small and prison-like? Although Paul would look good in a police uniform, Leah too, so maybe it would be worth the less than haute cuisine for that view. Oh bummer, I really did chip a nail."

The Pack blinked, all but Paul, who grinned at her. At least one of them was keeping up.

"Cassie? Get your little imprinted butt back over here," Jake half growled, although it was teasingly. Cassie yawned and continued looking at her nails.

"Sorry, Jake, but gosh, I'm just so comfy over here. You can come join me if you want to," she added sweetly, waggling her eyebrows at him. "Besides, once a strategic retreat had been made, it is positionally unsound to re-enter enemy territory. Only you're not the enemy, not yet anyway. Does being officially accepted into the Pack by the Alpha mean we have to go through some sort of hazing, or is it more like coffee and doughnuts? I'd prefer the coffee and doughnuts route, myself. Sims might not though, she's on a strict diet because of the whole martial arts thing. Did everyone know she had a chain thingy that she wields against vampires? It's scarier than the Pack being led by a virgin Alpha."

"Don't be rude, Cass," Paul turned and chided her gently, but she saw him glance at Sims. Jake had turned his attention back to Sims as well, and when she flinched again, Paul nodded back at Cassie. He understood.

"So you and Samantha are both scared of me, Cassie?" Jake chuckled as he walked up to the porch, the Pack watching the Alpha/imprint interaction with interest. "I'm a little hurt."

"I'm not scared of you, Jacob Black," Samantha said quietly, but Embry was watching her with a sad look in his eyes, and Cassie knew that it wasn't the truth. They all knew it.

"Of _course_ I'm scared of you, Jake," Cassie chirped, standing back up and once more putting herself between Jake and Sims by leaning her hip against Paul. Cassie saw a touch of understanding in Jake's eyes now, too. "But I'm also scared of spiders and vampires and gummy sharks. Have you ever looked closely at a gummy shark, Jake? The white underbelly thing hits just a little too close to home, not that my belly is _that_ white, but you know what I mean. Sharks are kind of scary, unless you're an orca, and then ha! Sucks to be a shark! So, when are we going to try to turn me into a werewolf too?"

Jake blinked again, but then his eyes softened. Cassie smiled at Paul and rested her cheek against his arm, turning her attention back to Jake. "I'd make a bad wolf, I think. I'm not very brave, and I don't like having someone else control me. I trust Paul, and Paul's wolf and I are in love, and maybe soon Paul and I will be in love too. But you're the Alpha, and you can destroy that with one word. So you're scary, Jake, because I'm new and I don't know you. The Saskatchewan Alpha wasn't very nice to me, he didn't even get me the right replacement ice cream. What makes you different, Jake?"

"Cassie," the Alpha commanded her firmly. "Come here."

The weight of his words rolled over her, and Cassie found herself unable to not listen. The compulsion to obey was strong, and even though she'd been only half serious before, the way his words pulled at her made her suddenly afraid. As the smell of her fear spiked, Paul started to growl, but at a jerk of Jake's head the growl was abruptly cut off.

"Cassie," Jake repeated. "_Come_. _Here_."

Cassie did as she was told, but she was quivering the entire time. This time her and her boots didn't strut up to Jake, and he was looking down at her with solemn eyes as she came to a stop in front of him. Jake gave her a gentle smile as she continued to tremble, and he rested a huge hand on her little shoulder.

"Honey, stop fighting it," Jake told Cassie quietly. "I'll show you what makes me different."

Trust wasn't given freely, it was earned, and Little Red wanted to grab Humpty's pieces, stick them in her basket, and make a break for another story. There was a vacancy in a tower where no one came up unless she let her hair down and she had enough people forcing her into corners without Paul's Alpha holding her still for all the world to see.

Paul let out a strangled snarl when tears started to pool in Cassie's eyes. Jake held up a hand, forcing Paul to stay where he was.

"Paul had to earn your trust, Cassie," Jake said just as gently, ignoring Paul's distress. "But I deserve it. This is my Pack and I'm your Alpha. I've heard a lot of stuff about you, honey, and you've gotten to play your one game with me. No more, though. You can't fight me, can you?"

Cassie shook her head no, a tear sliding down her face.

"It's the imprint bond. It ties you to Paul, and Paul is tied to me. It means we're connected, Cassie. It means we're Pack. And the only reason this hurts you is because you're fighting it. I don't need to earn your trust, this isn't a democracy. Stop fighting me and I'll show you the difference between me and Tupkuk."

"Cass, it's okay," Paul rumbled quietly, having gotten a hold of himself. "Just close your eyes and take a chance. I promise you won't regret it." Cassie didn't trust Jake, but she _loved_ Paul. So she closed her eyes and stopped fighting.

At first it didn't hurt. But then…then it felt…good. What had been Jake forcing her to his side had changed to him wanting her by his side. It wasn't control, it was something else entirely. It was like Jake wanted her there, and in wanting her there, it made her feel so…special. It was tangible affection that pulled at her, and Cassie took another step forward without thinking. Then another.

The difference between Jake and Tupkuk was love. Her Alpha loved her on a level so deep that it was ridiculous not to trust him. Trust wasn't even a factor anymore. It was like when Seth had wrapped Pack around her when she was hurting, only Jake was much better at it. That hazy happiness she had felt before was just as strong without the comatose effect Seth had accidentally caused. Cassie let out a soft sigh and then did what was natural for her. She wrapped her arms around Jake's waist and snuggled her face into his side, ducking between his arm and his ribcage. Jake chuckled and hugged her to him.

"I think she figured it out, Paul," Jake decided. "So you can stop thinking of ways to kill me now."

"You could have warned her," Paul grumbled, and Jake laughed at his sour expression.

"You could have warned _me_. Sheesh, I thought your imprint was going to eat me there," the Alpha chuckled, glancing down at her. "She's kind of a snuggler, huh?"

Paul was a little less than happy, and he sighed almost a touch petulantly. "Jake, you stole my imprint. And as long as you keep doing that, she's never gonna come back. She's a hug opportunist, man."

"Sure sure," Jake smirked, hefting Cassie up his left shoulder like she was a child as he let the pull at her slip away. Cassie was still smiling happily, until she realized she was dangling, and then she let out a yelp. Jake barked out a laugh. "Paul, this one's tiny. Couldn't you find a full grown imprint?"

"Naw, I like 'em small," Paul joked back, ignoring Cassie's looks for help as she tried and failed to dislodge herself from Jake's grip. Jake chuckled and winked up at Cassie before turning his attention to the Pack. His eyes landed on Sims. He looked at her quietly for a moment, and it didn't pass Cassie's notice that Sims had shuddered when their eyes met. Then Jake curled a finger at Embry's girlfriend, beckoning her over. She didn't move.

"Samantha Carter," Jake said, his deep voice softening slightly. "I know this Pack hasn't been good to you so far, but that changes today. You're Pack, Samantha. Come here."

The strength of his voice rolled over them all and Samantha shivered, but then she tipped her head to the side. "I only do what Embry tells me, Jacob Black," she replied firmly, even though the entire Pack had shifted towards Jacob from his command to her. There was no imprint bond between her and Embry, so Jake wouldn't be able to control her the same way he had controlled Cassie. "And even _he_ has to ask me nicely, and say please. You've got plenty of other people here to do what they're told, you don't need me."

Jake was silent for a moment, but then he nodded, his smile solidifying on his face. He chuckled and then beckoned a finger at her again.

"Samantha Carter, she who likes apples and Embry and not doing as she's told. Would you mind coming over here, _please_?"

She probably would have stayed right where she was, but Embry barked out a laugh and picked up his girlfriend around her waist, carrying her over to Jake like a sack of flour. Sims glared at Embry, but he only smiled at her fondly as he passed her over to Jake.

"Sorry sweetheart," Embry told her reasonably. "Pack tradition. New imprints and new unofficial imprints are the property of the Alpha the first official Pack party. Get used to it, honey, Jake gets you and Cass to play with and annoy all night. And you thought Seth was bad." He patted her head, and Cassie wondered why for just a split second Sims looked like she wanted to either scream or cry. Jake didn't grab up Sims, but he did sling a heavy arm over her stiff shoulders, turning to his Pack. Jake gazed at them and then he smiled, his voice dropping so that no one would hear besides them.

"I know I was gone a long time, and that was hard on all of you, but I promise that it was worth it," he told them all quietly. "I learned a lot, all of which we'll talk about at the meeting tomorrow. For now, just know that the Pack's whole again, and we're bigger than ever. That means we're stronger than ever. I'm proud of you guys, every single one."

Cassie smiled when she saw Paul puff up slightly at that, his expression pleased. Then their eyes locked, and the smile he hit her with was beautiful. If nothing else, Jake was in Cassie's good graces just for making her wolf look so happy.

"Now that the mushy shit is out of the way," Jake suddenly yelled, "Let's get this party rolling!" Then he raised his face to the air and made a yipping noise deep in his throat, one that the Pack all whooped and mimicked, reminding Cassie of a group of wild dogs telling each other where they were at. And where they were at was together. Finally.

The Alpha was home.

Cassie had been to some parties but this one got pretty wild. Like Embry had warned, Jake kept a hold of the new imprints all night, although after a couple hours or so it became obvious that Sims was miserable, and Jake passed her back to Embry. Every so often some of the wolves would disappear, Paul included, to go run patrols, but Cassie was having a great time. Jake was loud and funny and seemed to find her diminutive height as utterly novel, taking great pleasure in hauling her around as if she wasn't even there, going about spending time with his Pack as normal. Someone kept giving her spiked punch, she was pretty sure it was Collin, and the young wolf and her spent most of the night dancing. While the Pack cheered on, this time _Cassie_ was the one that won the crump battle, and she even coaxed Paul into standing in place while she shook what little she had for his amusement. That was as close to dancing as he got.

Cassie wasn't sure when she had passed out, it was somewhere between a utterly drunk Leah climbing on the shoulders of an equally drunk Jake as he spun the she-wolf about the small fire they had built. She wasn't sure who she had passed out against, but in this group it didn't matter. They all took care of each other, and there were no demons to fight with smiles and words sharpened like steel, there was only friends and family and Pack. She wasn't sure, but she remembered opening her eyes and seeing the flames flickering in the night, and behind them in the darkness a shape, huge and strong, was prowling. Watching. Guarding. Protecting. Moments later familiar arms lifted her up and carried Little Red into grandma's bed, and this time when Cassie was laid down on cool clean sheets, the body that followed her down was just as familiar. Paul. Paul's arms around her. Paul's lips stealing kisses as he wrapped her up close. Paul's scent mingling with her own, branding each other even as they curled up and slept.

It was just as it was supposed to be…Except for the drunken Collin on the front porch, arguing with an equally drunken Quil about the outcome of a hypothetical Carlisle Cullen versus Ephraim Black death match. Whatever that meant. Hey Paul? What did that mean? Hmmm. Paul was right. She should go back to sleep while Paul yelled at the pups to shut the hell up or he'd eat them all.

Yep. Just how it was supposed to be.

* * *

Samantha hadn't spoken two words together all night.

Somewhere along the line, several beers into the party and having a great time, Embry realized that in giving her over to Jake, he had made a huge blunder. Not only did she refuse to speak to the Alpha for nearly two hours except in clipped one word statements, causing Jake to sigh and give her back to Embry, she had turned her standoffishness Embry's way as well, something that hadn't happened in a long time. In fact, she seemed like she didn't want to be near any of them, with the exception of Leah. And once Leah had drank herself into wildness, distracting them all with her laughing antics, Samantha had snuck away.

It took a lot to slip away from a Pack of wolves, even ones pretty drunk. But then again, Sims had been shocking Embry with what she was capable of doing for months now. As soon as he noticed her having left the house through the bathroom window, Sims had made it halfway to her empty home. None of the other imprints could have made it half that far. Knowing that he was probably in for a chewing out, although for the life of him he wasn't sure what he had done so very wrong, Embry gave her another ten minutes to gather herself before he went into the Carter home after her. Even with Jake's help in controlling himself, ten minutes was the best Embry could manage.

Embry had found Sims in her room, folding her clothes into little neat piles that didn't take up nearly enough of the bed as they should. She was wearing his shirt and his boxers and a small necklace on her neck that he had seen the first day he met her, and she didn't immediately see him standing in her doorway watching her. That was the only reason he saw it in her eyes, that look of absolute despair, like her whole world had been crushed. She wasn't the type that cried often, she was better at harshness, and right now she looked like she wanted to hit something, hard. Embry knocked lightly on her doorframe and her head jerked up. His girl had such pretty eyes. He loved her eyes. He loved every inch of her.

"Samantha?" Embry sat down on the bed next to her, leaning forward and tilting his head to the side. "Sweetheart, what's _wrong_?" She had refused to speak to him all night. Something was definitely wrong. "What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything wrong, Embry," Samantha whispered, and her voice cracked a little. "You never do anything wrong."

"Then why the cold shoulder tonight?" Embry pressed, concern filling his words. "Honey? What's going on?"

Samantha didn't say anything, but when he smoothed a hand over her hair, tears welled up in her eyes. Slightly shocked, Embry felt a surge of protectiveness rush through him. Embry made a hushing noise in his throat and pulled her into his chest, rocking her gently as she began sobbing softly.

"It's okay. Whatever it is, we'll get through it together, okay?" Embry promised her, kissing her forehead. He guided her arms around his waist and tucked her in even tighter. "Shush, baby, I'll take care of it. I promise. You just have to tell me what's wrong. Was it the Pack tonight? Was it too much? Damn, I'm so stupid, I should have eased you into all of this slower."

"It's not you, Embry," Samantha whispered, and Embry cringed. Usually those words were followed by the dreaded, 'it's not you, it's me' speech.

Embry didn't know what to say, his heart hurt even at the thought that this was her breaking up with him. Now, after everything they had done, after everything they had fought through together, she was breaking up with him now? The pained noise in his chest that accompanied him wrapping around her even tighter didn't begin to cover what it felt like inside. If she was gonna tear his heart out, he kind of hoped she'd do it fast. And then maybe she could put a bullet in his brain to help with the agony.

"I can't…I can't lie to you, Embry," Samantha choked out between sobs. "I thought I could if it would help you, but each time I look at him, each time I look at you, I feel like I'm betraying you. But I…I don't want…please don't walk out, Embry. Just give me a chance to fix everything, just let me try…I love you so much. Just don't leave and stay here, just help me know what to do. I'm so confused."

There weren't a lot of things that could make his heart sink quite like those words did. Embry's head raced, wondering just what she meant. She wasn't cheating on him, he'd have smelled that the day it happened, and short having done that, there wasn't anything else that he could imagine ever leaving her for. Samantha was his girl. He loved her so fucking much it _hurt_.

"Baby, I won't leave," he whispered against her hair. "I'll _never_ leave you, I love you too much. Sweetheart, please, just please tell me. We'll get through it together, we'll get through anything together, but you're really freaking me out here. What's wrong?"

Anything. They could get through anything together, Embry just knew it. They were good together, they belonged together. She was his and he was hers and he would never let anything tear that apart. Samantha pulled back from his embrace and wiped her eyes. She took a deep steadying breath and then in a choked voice she told him.

"Jacob imprinted on me this morning. When you were in the shower."

Embry went utterly, utterly still, and Samantha grabbed his arm, talking faster. "And I know I should have told you the instant that it happened, but I was scared that you'd get so upset, and you've been so happy…please just don't walk out, Embry. We can figure this out, and I don't want anyone but you. _I love you_."

Embry's eyes went instantly black, his face full of rage. But he didn't say a word. Shivering, Samantha waited until the black dripped out of his eyes, leaving just a confused and worried Embry looking at her tearstained face. He made a hushing noise in his throat and pulled her into his chest, rocking her gently.

"It's okay, Samantha. Whatever it is, we'll get through it together, okay?" Embry promised her, kissing her forehead. He guided her arms around his waist and tucked her in even tighter. "Shush, baby, I'll take care of it. I promise. You just have to tell me what's wrong."

Samantha went very still against him, and Embry watched her raise her eyes to stare into his. Then she ran her fingertips along his jaw and he smiled, turning his face so that he could kiss each one separately. God, he adored this girl.

"Samantha?" he murmured, cradling her close. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or do I have to guess? You're really freaking me out here."

Samantha looked like a truck had hit her in the face, and unable to stand that expression, Embry gathered her up in his arms and kissed her. It started gentle, but soon she was holding onto him for dear life, pulling Embry down onto the bed on top of her. As if his weight and his smile could keep the world at bay. After a long moment, Samantha wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him like she was never going to let him go. "It's nothing," Samantha whispered in a broken little voice, despite her weak smile. "It's just been a long day. I love you, Embry."

Embry nodded, understanding. Long days happened. Her tears were gone, and she felt good beneath him. The party forgotten, Embry pulled at her clothes lightly, his way of asking if she was interested, and when Samantha nodded after a moment's hesitation, Embry stripped them down until there was nothing between them anymore. It was better like this.

Embry knew every place to touch his girl, every way to make her smile, to make the tears stay away. But Samantha wanted him now, she wanted him hard, and she wanted him in control. He could do that. He'd give whatever she needed, especially when it was what he needed too. His name on her lips was good, the smell of her release even better, and as he pulled out at the last moment, his own release now etched in the skin across her abdomen, Embry wasn't sure why either one of them had been upset in the first place. Samantha buried her face in his neck and whispered that she loved him again, and he smiled gently. He still thought it was odd but cute that she had been so clingy today, but Embry didn't mind.

They loved her too. Everything would be just fine.


	14. Chapter 12

A/N Heya everyone! Sorry it took so long, I rewrote the last scene…err...five times? A lot of times, anyway. A HUGE thanks to _LightIsPrecious_ and _hilja_ for helping me this chapter! (hugs) There were a LOT of reviews for chapter eleven and the second part of it, so thanks to: _Miss Bear, garlauri, pinkshirt, Buffyk0604, LightIsPrecious, SugarSweetCutie, LexaBrooke, MadToTheBone1, eskimogirl58, The bunny always dies first, LadyMonday, dixonmichiah, InsanelyxLOUD, EnglishVoice, Jacobleah, twiceasbold, Manna1, makeupmakelove, linkkah, moani-sama, Ashes-Of-Grey, mcc3654, Vivien Williams, KerryH, toalli, tsukiyukikage, ally leigh, LuchPenny, hilja, _and_ TeffieS_ for reviewing the chapter. Also thanks to: _alwaysxlove _(the site won't let me write your screen name properly, sorry...)_, pinkshirt, LadyMonday, sep12, KerryH, LightIsPrecious, Buffyk0604, ally leigh, EnglishVoice, MadToTheBone1, SugarSweetCutie, SARAH DB, LucyPenny, Jacobleah, moani-sama, cymoria, mcc3654, saraneedsahobby, toalli, hilja, _and_ makeupmakelove_ for the additional reviews. Hope I didn't miss anyone…message me if I did and I'll give props next chapter.

Don't be worried that there's less Paul/Cassie this chapter, they will be back in the forefront starting chapter thirteen, I just needed to wrap up some loose ends plot wise first. Lol. (plops down chapter)

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Twelve

The Alpha hadn't slept last night.

Instead he had spent the evening with a girl, running with her when the party grew too late and enjoying the feel of her fur brushing his as they flew over the ground, matching each other stride for stride. And then later, the Alpha had spent the early morning with another girl, this one small and sweet and still grateful to see him even if he was a little drunk and more than a little dirty. Play fighting in mud with she-wolves tended to do that to a guy. He had made the little girl pancakes and told her stories and made her giggle until the leeches had evicted the disgusting animal from their kitchen. Yeah, well, better a disgusting animal than animated road kill.

The Alpha still hadn't slept, but not because he didn't try. You see, there was a third girl, one without paws to run next to and who probably would never giggle no matter how many stories or pancakes he handed her. Hell, he hadn't even seen the third girl smile, not even once, not even in anyone's thoughts. Now that he had imprinted, when the other wolves thought about her, Samantha wasn't fuzzy in Jake's head anymore. No, she was crystal clear, crystal hard, crystal intractable, and he knew exactly where he stood with her.

Samantha Carter wanted nothing to do with him.

It made Jake smile a little, thinking that he had imprinted on the perfect girl for him, one that understood this whole imprinting concept and wanted to ignore the imprint too. But it was a hard thing to do, because Jake was an Alpha, and when he attached to someone, he attached _hard_. It wasn't that he was attracted to her, or wanted her even to satisfy the constant pressure the Alphas felt to mate, but she was Pack and Jake was tied hard to every single member of his Pack. He knew where all of his wolves were and what their general states of mind were, although some were clearer than others, and that extended to the imprints that weren't his own. He knew where the imprints were, that Kim was near Jared, that Cassie was near Paul, that Claire was to the north, and that Samantha was with Embry. But above all the others, above everyone but Seth, Jake knew Samantha Carter. Even though they had barely met.

He knew that Samantha was unsettled, even in her dreams.

He knew that Samantha was more unsettled as she awoke.

He knew that Samantha was sad, was lonely, that she needed something, but not something from him.

He knew that Samantha was…_dammit_. This was not something that Jake should have to deal with. Growling softly under his breath, the Alpha searched, searched for the place in his mind and his soul that was attached so tightly to her. Examined that place, tried to decide how to do this. And when what Samantha was doing became almost too much to bear without punching something, Jake cut himself off from her, clamped down on the bond so hard that he felt himself immediately grow colder, grow more detached. It was like his imprint bond was a hose, and he had just twisted it until it kinked, not a drop escaping. For the moment Samantha was gone, and with her was gone her love for his brother, the emotions they were building together.

This was better, even if Embry's pleasure and contentment was still curling around in the center of his stomach, mixing with the other emotions from his Pack. Closing his eyes, Jake leaned back against a tree near Paul's cabin and slept. He dreamed of a woman he had never known.

* * *

That night Samantha dreamed of her mother.

Dreams of her mother were always bittersweet, because no matter how bad the end had been, no matter how much it had hurt Samantha to watch her mother lose her mind slowly, Samantha had loved her mother. She had loved her mother more than anything in her life, her love built on years spent together, a thousand memories that held so much good along with the bad. Samantha's mother had taught her strength, had instilled in her the will to fight her way through a hard life, but beyond all she had shown Samantha the true meaning of loyalty. Loyalty was holding onto a hand long since grown cold, because in two hours was her mother's last birthday, and she wasn't going anywhere. Loyalty was smiling during a funeral because her mother had loved smiles and hated tears, especially from her. Loyalty was sticking it out to the end.

Loyalty was waking up next to Embry and not leaving him in her bed, it was not running to the ends of the earth to escape going through this all over again.

Samantha's eyes fluttered open and met beautiful chocolate, equally sleepy as they gazed down at her. Embry was wrapped around her like a blanket, his warm hard body entangled with her own softer one, and a little smile was playing about his lips as he watched her slowly wake from her dreams. A kiss, so very gentle, across her lips. His rumbling voice whispering wordlessly against her skin, his love as tangible as the arm around her waist, as the hand in her hair.

His lips against her own again, his body rolling her over onto her back, his heart in his chest and along her breast as he kissed a familiar paw shaped path. Hurt given her by him, long passed and done to save her life, and yet every day he reminded himself of what he had done. Embry refused to forgive himself the hurt handed her, and would spend hours kissing every centimeter of flesh that had once been broken and bruised.

Her hands in his hair, pulling him back to her and out of the past, because now had always been the time they had together, and tomorrow had proved that it didn't want Embry and Samantha to have this with each other. It should have been hard, it should have felt wrong, now knowing what she knew. But instead Embry's hands were gentle over her skin, her arms felt the same as they wrapped around his neck, and her knee was so much better over his hip than it had ever been on the bed alone.

Embry's breath across her jaw, murmuring for permission that he would always have, because he was all that she had ever wanted and this damn world was going to take him away from her. He shouldn't have to ask, because to hell with everyone and everything else. She was Embry's for as long as he wanted her, because she didn't know how she could ever want anything else except for this. Embry shifted against her, drawing out a low cry that was as familiar as wanting to break into a thousand pieces when he shifted again. Pain wasn't a bruise across a chest, fear wasn't being surrounded and scared. They were the absence of this, the absence of him, the absence of him and her.

Loyalty was loving a boy so hard it made your whole world shake, even as he convinced your body to tremble against his own.

This wasn't a man insane, this wasn't a beast to be feared…this was Embry. This was a pleased smile as she cried out his name against his throat, this was a hand stroking soothingly up her hip, across her stomach, fingers buried in her hair. This was a lover who would spend a lifetime finding everything she loved, because he loved, and he was so damn ready to do something _right_ for once. This was a lonely boy grown to be a lonely man, this was a lonely girl the lonely boy was so determined to make sure never felt alone again. This was a soft sigh against her temple as it became harder to remember what had shattered in the first place, this was a hundred broken dreams carefully scooped up into a pile and protected by arms that would never ever let her fall.

This was them.

Normally they were more careful than this, but she was lost, and he had been lost since the day she had first smiled at him. His face against her neck, then against her breast, wordless again, only this time better because they were lost together in the same moment. A soft curse, because he loved her and loving her meant not killing her dreams even if his could grow inside her if given the chance. Loving her was having the strength to pull away, loving him was pulling him back, regardless of the consequences. Two bad decisions in a row, one good man, one girl who was making mistakes and she _knew_ it. One girl who had spent her whole life not making mistakes, but his heat was proof that he was still him and as brave as she had always been, she was still a lonely girl. She wasn't ready to be alone again, not yet.

One moment, where he could make her feel like they could have this forever. And then the cool air of the house broke the spell of warmth, and in one horrible moment, she wondered if she had the wrong brother on top of her. Betrayal was more than keeping a secret, it was thoughts that should never stray across her mind, it was feeling a man across the reservation, knowing he was aware of her, aware of what she had just felt. Selfishness was feeling that connection shut down and being so damn glad.

Selfishness was basking in the feeling of Embry hand on her thigh regardless of who might hurt from that.

Selfishness was basking in…

Selfishness was…

Was…

Samantha opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Nothing. Nothing at all because the Alpha was gone.

Embry's forehead was pressed to her collarbone, his hands possessively on her hips as he inhaled the scent of her skin deeply. "Sims? Fuck, honey, I'm sorry. You just felt so damn good…I should have worn something, or at least pulled out. I really blew it, didn't I?"

"It's okay, Embry," Samantha whispered softly, letting her hands run through his hair. The Alpha was gone. She was sweaty and trapped by his hot body, but she shivered. The Alpha was gone, and in leaving he had taken something of her too. Or maybe all of her. She was a shell, so numb, so very cold. "I've been on the shot a full week," she tried to explain, feeling her voice go flat. "I think we'll be okay."

Nothing. Nothing to worry about. There was _something_, but it was buried deep, locked where she couldn't reach it. God she was so cold.

Samantha shivered, trying to remember where she was at. Embry. Embry in her bed. Embry in her bed after last night, after telling him and him…They would be okay. Only he was insane, and she…she was bones wrapped in muscle, tucked into a skin too tight. Too tight, she wanted to scream and claw her way out, wanted to scream at the whole world, and then Samantha trembled as even that emotion was forced down, forced away. Shut off until she was nothing. She was being numbed away even from herself, and it wasn't supposed to be like this.

She didn't understand why, and there was no one to tell, nowhere to run. Why were her eyes wet when inside was closed down, locked away? Tears meant emotion, and she felt nothing. Nothing at all. It would have been terrifying if she had been able to feel fear. But she couldn't. She couldn't feel a damn thing. Embry's hot breath over her throat. She bared it reflexively and stared at the ceiling. Two boys managed to tear her heart out yesterday, so the one that mattered could have her throat if he wanted.

Get up, she tried to tell herself. Get up and fix this.

"I'm a wolf, Sims. Fertility is kind of our thing," Embry groaned against her pulse point, lapping lightly. So cold. So damn cold. "I'll take you to a doctor today, okay? I'll get Cullen to squeeze us in, because I'm not ruining your life because I fucked up again."

You're a fighter, Samantha. Get up and fight this.

"We're pretty good baby makers, so we probably need to go soon, okay? I'll buy you breakfast," he smiled against her flesh. "God, I love you, Sims, and I'm gonna take care of everything, okay? Don't you worry."

Move. Think. Feel. So goddamn _numb_…Tears? Again? That didn't make any sense.

"Sims? Sweetheart?" Embry sat up abruptly, pulling her up into his arms as she leaned against his shoulder, his voice sharp with worry. "Samantha, what's wrong?"

She was crying again, and this time she wasn't sure it was going to stop. Only unlike last night, at least this time she felt _nothing_. Closing her eyes, Samantha let Embry hold her. She had held her mother, when her mother was Jessica, she had held her mother when her mother had been Melissa. She had held her mother when it didn't matter who her mother was anymore. Who was _she_ anymore anyways? Sam, Samantha, Sims…Embry's, Jake's, her own. She just didn't know anymore. And the one person she wanted, the one she was being cradled by, was insane. Life was a circle, but circles could break, if she could find the will to try. Willpower was her strength, her advantage, but trying was hard, so very hard when she wasn't even sure what she was supposed to be trying to do. And why, why was she so very numb? It was like someone had scooped out her good parts and left nothing, nothing at all.

Get up. _Get up_, Samantha.

Instead of getting up, the girl pressed her nose into Embry's shoulder and cried.

* * *

Seth was bored.

The store was empty, the way it often was on weekend mornings, and Seth didn't even know why they were open. His mother used to never be open on Sundays, and the summer tourists hadn't really started arriving yet. Maybe next weekend it would be worth it for him to be sitting here on the cashier's stool, balancing a pencil vertically on his nose, but not today. At least he was only working the early shift and his mother would be showing up soon. Jake wanted Seth at Paul's as soon as Seth could get free, and the pull of an Alpha request was hard to ignore. Even though it wasn't an order given and suggested casually last night, it made Seth feel like he should be there. Not here.

Not here, because he was so _sooo_ bored.

"You know, you could put your eye out with that thing," a voice smirked at the propped open doorway. "I'm not sure that the school's eye candy would be quite as sexy looking like a pirate."

From around his pencil, Seth saw the carrot colored hair, and he grinned. "Chancy Hoblin," he chuckled, still balancing his pencil. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Have you come to trip me again?"

"Are you still picking on Sims?" Chancy countered, and despite her flirty tone, Seth could see her blushing. It was kind of cute.

"Nope," he popped the 'p' and then bopped his nose so that the pencil popped up and he caught it again. Was he showing off? Well…maybe a little. "At least not yet, but the day's still young."

"Then you're safe," Chancy said with a little smile, slipping into the store, a lollipop in her mouth. She and Sims, those girls liked their candy, didn't they? "I'm here for…umm…tomatoes? Yes, tomatoes. You have tomatoes, right?" Seth chuckled and pointed down to the far side of the store.

"Aisle five, near the end. The ones at the bottom are the best, but I never said that."

"Thanks, Seth," she said, her voice softening back into shyness.

Seth waited until she had passed by and then let his eyes follow her down the aisle. Chancy was…interesting. Some of the girls in school already looked the way they always would, but Chancy was one of those girls that wasn't finished yet. Her parts were nice, they just didn't quite fit…at least not now. She was only seventeen after all, and she was pretty young. It didn't make her unattractive, necessarily, just kind of awkward. Seth could appreciate a pretty girl just like any other guy. Hell, the pups weren't the only ones that had a hard time keeping their eyes off Paul's smoking hot imprint every time she walked in the room. But Paul had ridiculously high standards, even if he didn't realize it, and Seth was much more realistic. Seth didn't want perfect, he wanted real. Real smiles, real laughs, real conversations. Real…

Hmm. Chancy had real nice legs, by the way.

The girl disappeared around the corner, and Seth smiled. After being in charge and completely consumed with the Pack, it was nice to just relax back and be normal for an hour or two.

"Lord, could he _be_ any hotter?"

Seth's grin grew as he heard Chancy muttering in the back corner of the store. Sometimes enhanced hearing was a pain in the ass, human brains weren't easily accustomed to that many external stimuli, and the wolves often got headaches from the constant barrage on their senses. But sometimes it was nice, especially when being sneaky. After all wolves were sneaky, and Seth was a very good wolf.

The second best, actually.

Seth leaned sideways on his stool, craning his head to catch a glimpse of long pale legs. She even had freckles on her knees, and just to give himself something to do, Seth began counting them.

"Tomatoes... I couldn't think of anything better than _tomatoes_? Who comes to a store just for tomatoes?" Chancy continued mumbling under her breath, oblivious to her audience. "I might as well have said _tampons_."

"Hey, Chancy?" Seth called out with a smirk, unable to stop himself. "You need help finding anything else?"

"Uhh…no," Chancy stumbled a little on her words. "Nope, just the tomatoes. Thanks, Seth."

"Whatcha cooking?" he asked her, continuing to lean sideways as he checked out her legs. Yeah, her parts didn't exactly fit each other, but when evaluated individually, they were pleasant.

"Nosey, are we?" Then she cursed under her breath as the tomatoes started rolling at her, and Seth enjoyed the sounds of her scrambling to keep them from hitting the floor.

"Naw, more like hungry," he chuckled. "I'm always on the watch for a free meal. _You_ could always cook for me, you know. You do owe me a better meal after making me eat tile in the school hallway, Chancy."

Silence for a second. He could practically feel the heat filling her face from over here, and Seth grinned even more. Then he smelled it, that scent that said her emotions had changed from embarrassment into shame. Chancy thought he was making fun of her. Seth uncoiled from his stool and wandered over to the far corner, where Chancy was the same color as the produce she was holding. The Beta flashed Chancy his best smile, the one reserved for getting himself out of trouble with Sue and Leah and sometimes even Sims.

"What, too forward?" Seth teased, leaning against the tomato display and picking one up, holding it beside her face. "No, not that color." He dug in the box for another one, holding that up too. "No, not _that_ color either."

Chancy was still completely red, but she was snickering as he very intently tried to find a tomato that matched her skin tone. When none were right, he moved on to the strawberry bins, grabbing her hand and tugging her after him.

"Seth, you're kind of a dork," Chancy giggled as he declared a strawberry unfit and popped it in his mouth. Seth winked at her and held up a particularly deep red strawberry.

"This is the closest we could get. I think you've invented your own color of red, Chance," Seth told her solemnly. "Now open up." He dangled the strawberry over her head enticingly.

Chancy laughed and did as she was told, snickering when he dropped the piece of fruit in her mouth and made sound effects for her munching on it. "Okay, you really are a dork, Seth," she decided, wiping the juice off the corner of her mouth that had escaped while she was laughing. "And Chance is a boy's name."

"Of course it isn't," Seth told her cheerfully, finding a pinkish red grape and dangling that above her head as well. "Bombs away, new girl."

"I'm not new," Chancy mumbled around her grape, and Seth grinned as she smiled at him. "Callie, that sophomore, well I guess now she's a junior, is new. She came to school a few weeks after me. I'm old news."

"_Callie's_ old news, and she's _bad_ news," Seth corrected Chancy, dangling the grapes above her head and dropping them in her mouth as he wandered backwards around the store, her having to follow to continue getting her free fruit. "Callie spent the last year in juvie, but she's reservation bred. She's Brady's cousin, actually. You, pale face, are still the new girl. Jump for it."

He lifted the grape higher and Chancy raised an eyebrow. Then she shook her head no. Seth barked out a laugh and popped it into his own mouth. They had wandered back to the checkout station, and Seth hopped up on the counter, patting the seat next to him. Chancy hesitated, and Seth hooked her around the waist with one strong arm, hauling her up on the counter so that her hip was against his own. Seth passed over the grapes, and Chancy took them, munching one to cover her nervousness.

"You have a fan club, you know," Chancy told him three grapes later before passing the fruit back. Seth nodded and handed a grape to Chancy before tossing up three at a time and catching them in his mouth.

"It's hard being this beautiful," Seth sighed, but then he perked up. "But Jake's back now, and when he's around, I get forgotten. Maybe my fan club could trade up?"

"The infamous Jacob Black? The leader of you ruthless gang of ruffians?"

"The gossip circle has eaten another one," Seth said mournfully, watching her peel the skin off her grape. "Alas, it was good while it lasted, Chance. Remember me fondly."

"Sims is right. I have been disillusioned, Seth Clearwater. Gee look at the time, I'd better go," Chancy teased as he stole her skinless grape.

"Your grape's naked," he smirked, and then chuckled as she blushed crimson again as he popped it in his mouth.

"Your brain's naked," Chancy countered, and Seth barked out a laugh.

"Nice."

They sat in silence as Seth consumed the rest of the grapes but one, and then tried to twist the prickly stem into a bracelet for her, the lone red grape a jewel on the top of her wrist. He kept her hand on his lap as he worked, and then when he was done, he beamed at Chancy proudly.

"Bet the rumor mill doesn't know that I'm _this_ awesome," Seth told her as Chancy grinned down at her bracelet, looking pleased. Then her smile softened and she looked up at him. Seth wasn't used to having someone look at him like they could see through him, and it wasn't good when he had so many secrets to keep. Seth turned his attention back to her wrist. Yeah, that was pretty cool looking. He would make such a good boyfriend, if maybe his imprint could just mosey on around one of these days.

"Hey Seth?" Chancy thumped her foot against his.

"Yeah, Chance?" Seth bumped his shoulder into hers, thinking that she smelled good, and that she was like a grape stuck in accidentally with the potatoes. She didn't fit, and she got lost within the masses, but get her alone and she was nice all on her own. No other potatoes necessary.

"People are stupid." Chancy told him, and then she lifted her wrist to him and tilted it his way. "Except for me, that is. Wanna share my grape?"

"I have cooties," he warned her, and Chancy thumped his foot again. He nudged hers back, but dipped his head and bit the grape in half, sticking his tongue out at her with the half grape sitting there. Chancy plucked off her half and balanced it on her own tongue, dropping it into her hand every once in a while when Seth kicked her foot and having to rebalance it. After the first minute of having his tongue out, Seth began to drool. After the first five minutes his chin and shirt were wet, and Chancy was risking being stuck cross eyed, so Seth tapped her wrist and as one they both swallowed before sharing a grin.

It had been a long time since he had shared anything with anyone. Ordered, followed, helped, hurt, but not shared. Being Beta made that hard, he was too high up the chain of command. Speaking of which, Jake had just woken from a weird dream and wanted Seth to meet him at Paul's. Was Sue getting there soon? In a minute, Jake, Seth was with a girl.

Really? The little Beta knew what girls were?

Really. And he knew them a whole lot more than the virgin Alpha did. Cass could sniff out a virgin a mile away, good little imprint that she was. Jake didn't find that nearly as funny as Seth did, and Seth needed to get his ass over there. Alpha out, little Beta.

Beta out, Alpha dude.

Seth was pretty sure that the Pack would never let them live it down if they knew Jake and Seth talked like Trekkies to each other when they were bored. But the girl next to him kicked his foot again, and Seth realized that he wasn't nearly as bored as he had been a few minutes ago. Slanting a smile Chancy's way and watching her blush rise once again in her cheeks, Seth decided that people _were_ stupid, and maybe her parts fit better than any of them had ever realized. Or maybe he had seen enough to know that parts didn't have to fit to make the person worthwhile.

He nudged her foot again and put his pencil back on his nose.

* * *

A day into imprinting, it already felt strange to not feel Samantha pulsing in the front of his mind.

Maybe Jake had clamped down too hard on the imprint bond, had cut them off too much, but damn…no one should have to share that, the emotions rolling through their imprint as she slept with another man. And now he could barely feel her, could barely find her even if he tried to focus. He had done his job well of cutting them away from each other. It had made Jake feel numb, and a little off his normal self, but this was better. This had been what they had agreed they wanted. He didn't have a clue what Samantha was feeling anymore, but if Jake would have to guess, he'd say she'd probably rather feel this way too.

Focusing, Jake clamped down a little harder until Samantha Carter was only a whisper in the deep recesses of his soul, soft and unintelligible, and he slipped towards Paul's house. After all, they had work to do.

* * *

The day Embry had come home from Mexico, he had pulled Samantha into his arms and made love to her, every breath in him thankful they had all survived and needing to share that proof of life with the girl he loved so much. The next day he had driven Samantha to the clinic in Port Angeles to get her on birth control.

Samantha was underage, which made it slightly more complicated, the reservation didn't have its own clinic where Embry would have pull at, and it was cheaper to go through a clinic than it was the Forks hospital. It was a smart precaution. After all Samantha still had a year of high school left, she was headed to college afterwards, and having a baby in tow wasn't going to work well. But Embry was right, the wolves were built for fertility, and it was not only important to have their girls on birth control if they didn't want any puppies anytime soon, but that they also back it up with condoms and the pull out method. The combination of at least two usually worked, but all three was better.

It was a lesson painfully learned by Seth when he was sixteen, full of life and vitality and not above using his enhanced physical attributes to seduce the opposite sex, and it was a lesson painfully repeated by Jared and Kim. In Seth's case the girl had no interest in being pregnant, and no matter how hard he tried to convince her, she had went off to Seattle to have an abortion. It had taken Seth six months to be anywhere close to his normal self afterward and it wasn't long before he jumped in strength, taking his place as Jake's Beta. Jared and Kim had tried to stay pregnant, but it hadn't been meant to be, and neither Jared nor Kim had come out of it completely the same.

As one, the Pack stopped being careless. Each Pack member or possible member was cherished and losing one was too devastating, so they made sure it didn't happen. But even shape shifters were human and slipped up. Embry hadn't worn a condom or pulled out with Samantha that morning, and he wasn't taking any chances. He had told Samantha he wasn't putting her through anything she wasn't ready for because of his own stupidity, and he had driven her straight to the Forks hospital for the morning after pill. It had been meant to reassure her, but Samantha wasn't reacting to anything the way she normally did. Embry kept asking but she wouldn't tell him what was wrong. Embry had been about ready to call Leah and beg the other girl's help in what to do but Samantha had stopped him. She was okay, she was just…she didn't know.

It had been a bad morning. Samantha was used to being strong, and she still felt that she was strong, but it still didn't stop the nearly steady moisture leaking down her face. She wasn't sobbing like she had been last night, but she had spent nearly an hour weeping against Embry's shoulder this morning, making him nearly frantic in his attempts to understand. But Samantha didn't understand herself, all she knew was that that instead of her feelings of being panicked and worried last night, she almost felt dead inside. Like someone had put a clamp down on her emotions, muting her away from even herself. And as numb as she felt inside, it didn't make any sense that the silent tears kept coming.

Embry had finally stopped asking her what was wrong. At this point she was so jumbled, even if she could tell him the truth, Samantha wasn't sure what she would even say. She was running on automatic, following Embry's lead as he forced breakfast down her throat before driving her to the hospital, his face grim. Embry wasn't stupid. Samantha wasn't this upset over this morning, but she wasn't talking, and that didn't give him a lot to work with.

Samantha wasn't trying to be difficult. She really wasn't, she told herself as she sat next to Embry in the waiting room, her cheek against his shoulder as she tried to fill out the paperwork. Insurance? Probably not, her father hadn't worked in weeks. Recent surgeries? Yeah, a vampire chucked her across a yard and her wolf boyfriend caught her, causing internal bleeding. Family history on both the mother's and the father's sides?

She sighed, thinking that just for her mother's part that she was going to need a couple more pens.

Embry watched her fill out the paperwork, his frown growing the more she wrote. Every once in a while Samantha's vision would become blurry, and she'd wipe the back of her hand across her eyes before going back to writing. It was upsetting her boyfriend, but he was doing really good at keeping himself still, although it didn't pass Samantha's notice that every time someone glanced her way, Embry would glare at them fiercely until their eyes quickly turned from her. It happened more than once, the waiting room was very full, and Embry was growing more protective with every swipe of her hand. Once everyone was scared to look anywhere near the angry Quileute man and his silently crying girlfriend, Embry settled down slightly. Samantha wondered if they all thought he was the reason she was crying. Samantha wasn't even sure if they would be right or wrong.

She didn't want to be here. Samantha hated feeling on display.

"I'm worried about you," he told her quietly enough that the people around them couldn't hear. He was staring at the ground beneath his feet unhappily. "I know something's wrong, and I just don't understand why you won't tell me. You always talk to me, this isn't like you."

"_I_ don't know what's wrong anymore, Embry," Samantha whispered back, her voice coming out flatter than it should, and causing him to look even more unhappy. "We can talk about it later, okay? Let's just get through this and then go back to everything else."

"Everything else?" Embry shook his head, "Sweetheart, _what_ everything else? And why the hell is this taking so _long_?" He turned his glare on the receptionist, who merely adjusted her glasses and ignored him.

"Because whether or not we made a baby today is not a pressing issue to the rest of the world, Embry," Samantha said quietly, her numbness making her tone cold. "The only person it seems to matter to is me, since you were so damn fast to drag me here."

Maybe she should have hit him in the face with a tire iron. It would have hurt him less. Samantha watched Embry's hands tremble ever so slightly before he clenched them into fists and then smoothed them out on his jeans.

"We can leave if that's what you want," Embry told her softly. "You turn eighteen in five months, four months before you would be due if I got you pregnant today. That's enough time to get married and figure out insurance, and I could work some nights down at the fishery for some extra money. I'm pretty sure the Council could get me in. But I'm not having a child out of wedlock, Samantha, not even with you, and no one kills a baby of mine. I can't leave the Pack either. We can leave now, but you're risking trapping yourself to me, and I never wanted that for you."

Samantha wanted to scream at him, because he just didn't _understand_, but she was so deadened inside that she couldn't bring herself to do anything but sign the bottom of the permission form that she wasn't old enough to sign. She didn't know why she felt like this, and she just didn't understand either. Yesterday had upset her, and last night…last night was so horrible that she didn't even want to think about it. But this morning she had still been herself. She had still felt herself when she and Embry had been together, up until it was over and her mind had strayed towards…

_Jake_. This was _Jake's_ fault. He had all but killed the connection between them this morning, and in the process had all but killed her emotions too.

A tremble went through Samantha, and she turned to Embry. "I need to make a phone call. In private."

Embry flinched, and it occurred to Samantha that she should have hit him with the tire iron again. Her timing with her revelation had been awful. Instead of saying a thing, after all he had just pretty much proposed to her, Embry wordlessly rose and left the waiting room. She counted to twenty, Embry had good ears, and then Samantha pulled out her phone. A while ago Seth had programmed Jake's cell phone number in her phone, and it rang twice before he picked it up. He didn't even say hello, and neither did Samantha. Instead she whispered to him as quietly as she could,

"Whatever you're doing, _stop_. You're hurting me, Jacob Black." And then she hung up the phone. Across the reservation, the Alpha sighed and stuck his phone back in his pocket. Then he braced himself and let the imprint bond roll back over him, not sure if the relief from keeping the clamp down was worth the sudden barrage of her emotions. The volcano was still capped, but she was about ready to split at the seams, and her distress made him tremble. Staying where he was instead of going to Samantha was stupidly difficult. And then she suddenly broke.

Back in the hospital, Samantha supposed there were worse things than breaking down like a child in the middle of the waiting room, but it was still embarrassing. It was more embarrassing when thirty seconds into feeling so much, so damn _much_ that it bent her over on the floor in front of her chair sobbing her heart out, that Jake called her phone, demanding what the hell was wrong. She hung up on him. If she wasn't talking to Embry, she sure as hell wasn't talking to Jacob Black.

One of the receptionist nurses went and found Embry, letting the angry Native American man pacing in the parking lot know that his girlfriend had been moved to room fifteen and maybe someone should call her parent or guardian. She was still crying against his shoulder, his strong arms wrapped around her as he murmured soothingly to her when the doctor came in. Embry had made a pretty huge fuss in his insistence on seeing Carlisle Cullen right away, but the vampire was in surgery.

They sent Misty instead.

* * *

Cassie loved waking up in Paul's bed. It was almost good enough to ignore the whole pesky having to wake up part of the experience.

There was a dull fuzziness in the back of her head, the remnants of her fun last night, and her legs felt like pins and needles were poking her all over, but she just didn't care. Last night had been so much fun, and later last night had been even better. Drunk or sober, Cassie was pretty sure there was nothing she liked more than sleeping in Paul's arms. Waking up in them was a close second. Unfortunately her gorgeous wolf was nowhere to be found.

Cassie yawned and blinked, curling around something squishy and inhaling the scent of Paul in the second pillow she had managed to end up with. The cabin was quiet, the midmorning light muted by the nearly constant cloud cover of this part of the country. Cassie couldn't hear Paul anywhere, but she was pretty sure he would be outside, having spent the early morning hours watching the sun climb its way into the sky. Mornings and Paul were fond of each other, it was a time of day where the least was required of him, and Cassie knew better than to interrupt her man when he was peaceful.

But she missed him. She'd interrupt him anyways.

Smiling Cassie wandered over to the door, her hair fluffy and messy and the pillow still dangling in her hand. She opened the door and found what she had expected. Paul was seated on the porch, shirtless and barefoot, leaning back on his hands. The Alpha was there, Quil too, but Cassie wasn't particularly bothered by that. Paul's head turned, his eyes sweeping over her form as a soft smile curled his lips and Cassie wandered over to him sleepily. She curled up on his lap, her pillow still in her arms as she snuggled into his. Paul chuckled and hitched her a little closer, his hand on her mostly bare hip.

In Cassie's world, clothing was regularly optional. Paul must be growing accustomed to it, or he was just giving up on that battle, because instead of growing grumbly and insisting that she put on more than the lacy red bra and boy shorts underwear she was wearing, he just shifted to accommodate her and adjusted her pillow a little lower. After all, Quil had gone scarlet and was trying to look anywhere else, and a subdued Jake was still grinning.

"I owe you five bucks, man," Jake chuckled as Cassie found that perfect spot below Paul's neck to burrow her head into. "That's close enough to naked and she wasn't even fazed by it. Quil, calm down. You'd think you'd never seen girl before."

"Not one like that," Quil muttered uncomfortably. "Well, I've got to go…do…something. Later guys."

Cassie yawned and Quil hopped the porch and slipped off into the woods. "Was it something I said?" she mumbled sleepily in a heavily accented voice, and Paul's low rumbling laugh vibrated against the nape of her neck.

"Naw, more like something you wore, Cass. Or didn't wear. How did you sleep?" He had understood her words, but Jake seemed to be working at following.

"I'll tell you when I'm done," she promised, slipping into her native tongue. Her eyes drifted closed as his warmth rolled around her, and Cassie smiled when Paul replied to her in Quileute. She wasn't sure what he said, but she pretended it was him saying he loved her too, and she made a little happy noise in her throat. Half dozing, Cassie heard their conversation, even if she was dreaming at the same time. Edward Cullen was sitting on her car, holding a pillow, and Paul's voice was coming from his lips, although mostly asleep Cassie was pretty sure that Paul wasn't sparkly. She was going to tell him that, but she was a pillow and her fluff was caught in her mouth, making it so that she couldn't talk. A large letter A was leaning against the car, giving Paul/Edward Cullen/the Cassie pillow a smile.

"She's cute, man," the Alpha was telling Paul, who pulled Cassie back into waking a little when he tightened his arms around her.

"Cass is a lot of things, but yeah, cute is on the list," Paul was chuckling. "I think she gave Quil a nosebleed. That kid has about twelve more years until Claire's of age, someone needs to find him a distraction. He has a hard time not dwelling on Cass when we're all phased, not that the pups can keep their thoughts to themselves anyways. We need to work on that."

"The guys been bugging you when they think about her?" Jake asked curiously, and Paul shook his head.

"Not really. Spend a little time with Cass and you'll get it, Jake. She even made Old Quil look twice, so I'm pretty sure the guys are screwed. At least they're trying."

"You're different, Paul. Calmer, more accepting," the Alpha said quietly, his voice changing. "Is it because you're not fighting the imprint anymore?"

"I don't know," Cassie heard Paul rumble, no longer Edward Cullen but now a large chocolate chip cookie, and Cassie's pillow self snuggled deeper because her fluffing was getting cold. "I never really was fighting it. I guess I just was pretty convinced that she could do better than this, than being here with me. So I kept pushing her off, keeping things mostly platonic."

"She looks pretty happy to me," the letter A decided, grinning wolfishly at the cookie.

"Cass is probably the most complicated person I've ever known," the Paul cookie told the A quietly. "Embry's got it pretty easy, Sims is either on or off. You're in or you're out, it's black or it's white, she's either going to say yes or no but there's no maybes. Cass is different. Cass lives in a constant state of grey, always trying to find the good, and ignoring everything else. If there's anything worthwhile about you, she'll sniff it out like a bloodhound, and treat you like you were the most important person in the world because of it. It's hard to be around her and not look at things differently."

"So the imprint was a good thing?"

"Who knows? But I don't know how I ever went without her. Shit, Jake, when I think about it before, I didn't even realize how lonely I was. Even if I don't understand her, even when I get frustrated or angry, even when she's screaming at me in Russian and I might as well stare at the ceiling for all the good trying to translate does me, she's still here with me. Even in Seattle, she's still mine. I'm not sharing her anymore, I won't do it. Cass is mine, and I'm hers. I guess that sounds pretty lame, but I don't know how else to explain it. It's hard to be lonely with an imprint, man."

"Was it hard when she was still seeing other people?" the A wanted to know, folding over in half as it rested elbows on knees and stared out at the forest. "Shit Paul, feeling that through the imprint bond every time…how did you deal with it?"

The Paul cookie seemed confused, and rubbed a chip lightly over pillow Cassie's closest corner. "You mean the sex? I couldn't feel that. Thank god I couldn't feel that, I would have gone nuts. No, I just get strong simple emotions through the bond. If she's really happy, I can tell. If she's really angry I can tell, but I never know more than that. I never know why. When Cass is feeling too many things too hard, it makes me really unsettled, and if I go too long without seeing her, it makes me nauseous. I could probably point and tell you which direction she was, and have half an idea of how far, but that's as deep as it goes with us. Why? Do some of the other imprinted wolves feel more than me?"

"No, I was just asking," the A mumbled, sounding a little unhappy. "You're the highest ranked imprinted wolf I have so I was thinking that maybe you were connected to her tighter than Jared and Kim or Quil and Claire."

"What about Sam and Emily? He was the Alpha, if any of the imprints were stronger, it would have had to be his."

The A was quiet for a moment, then looked at Paul in a considering manner. "Paul, Sam can't feel Emily. Not at all. He would have to use his nose to find her if he was searching for her. I wouldn't suggest asking him anything at all about his imprint bond, because phasing alone the way he did, I think it damaged him in certain ways. It's a good thing he slipped in rank, I think the sooner Sam can get out of this the better it will be for him and Emily."

Cassie roused herself slightly, shifting so that her cold nose pressed against Paul's throat as the wolves sat in silence.

"Jake? Are you okay? You keep staring off towards Forks, and you seem not your normal self."

Jake didn't say anything immediately, and then he chuckled a touch bitterly. "I'm still me, Paul. Just there's more of me in Forks right now and it's kind of messing with what's here."

Paul made a grunting noise in his throat. "Sometimes I wish the Cullen's would just pack up and leave. It's cruel that Bella is still pulling you into her life, Jake. Ness is sweet and all, and I know you love her like a daughter, but shit, man. If Bella left Forks, you might be able to move on."

"Edward thinks so too, and you know Bells," Jake chuckled. "She'll cave to whatever he wants in the end. But Carlisle has his reasons for staying. Speaking of which, that leech that was poking around when Brady was here? It wasn't on accident. The leech wants something the Cullen's are protecting, not that they'll tell me what, but Carlisle wants it dead. First time I've ever heard him say something like that, but he wants us to kill it if we can. We owe them right now after Mexico, so if you get the scent, take it down."

"I don't need to owe a leech to be convinced to kill another leech, boss," Paul chuckled. "I just kill leeches."

"I run them over with cars," Cassie added sleepily, and Paul kissed her earlobe fondly.

"Yeah you do, baby."

Jake was grinning again. "You've got it bad man, she's got you wrapped around her little pinkie. Well finally, it's about time, Seth."

"Whoa, Cass is naked, Paul. Strategically placed pillows don't a naked girl unmake."

Cassie was awake now, too many attractive men around her had that unfortunate consequence. She yawned and stretched, smiling up at the Beta who had just trotted up, a map in his back pocket and an easy grin on his face. "I'm not actually naked, Seth," Cassie purred sweetly. "I can show you the difference if you'd like, since you and Jake are the only ones who haven't seen it in person anyway. Well, Sam and Leah too, but they're more interesting in seeing each other naked than in seeing me naked. Although Leah would probably be okay with seeing both Sam and Jake naked at the same time, although that would be a lot of naked man in one bed and even she-wolves probably have limits to what they can comfortably handle."

Seth turned a little green at that image, Jake started coughing inexplicably, and even Paul choked on that one. "Cass," he hissed in her ear. "You can't say that. Sam imprinted on Emily."

"Coulda fooled me," Cassie shrugged, then she tilted her cheek towards Paul hopefully. He glared at her, but then caved and placed a light kiss on her jaw. Cassie beamed at him. "See? Expert imprinter right here," she said smugly, slipping out of Paul's lap and standing up. She stretched again, yawning one last time as she rose up on her toes, bouncing up and down twice before dropping back to her heels. Then she happily wandered back into the house, her pillow in tow.

Paul watched her leave, not even trying to keep his eyes off of her barely covered rear end, but as soon as she disappeared from view, he growled lightly at the two more dominant wolves. Both Seth and Jake had watched her retreat with interest, interest they quickly covered by Jake coughing again and Seth scratching his armpit. Then the Beta grinned.

"You know, we need more imprints like her," he said cheerfully. "Then we could make an imprint calendar, raise some Pack funds or something."

"You get to tell Kim that," Paul smirked, but then he grew serious as Seth pulled the map out of his back pocket. It was a map of North and South America, and the wolves all scooted to accommodate it as Seth unrolled the map between them. There was a Pack meeting tonight, but this meeting was just as important, something that felt strange for Paul to be involved in instead of Sam.

"Alright," Jake grunted. "So in nine months, the furthest north I got was Juneau, Alaska, and the furthest south Jack and I got was the northern edge of Ecuador. I made it to the east coast of the States, but it was a lot of territory to cover. I found multiple Packs but most of the Packs were small, just a couple wolves in size. Do we have anything to mark this thing off?"

"Hey Cass?" Paul called into the cabin. "Can you find us something small to mark off cities? Tape or something? There might be tape in the drawer by the sink."

She came out a few moments later, still undressed, and handed them a partially eaten bag of gummy bears. "Will these work?" she asked brightly, "There wasn't anything else."

"I like a girl who thinks out of the box," Seth complimented her and Cassie beamed as he snagged the bag, eating a few before Jake took it from him.

"Thanks Cass," Paul said, then he frowned as he watched Jake start placing gummies on the map. "Shit, Jake, there's that many? You never told us."

Seth pulled his eyes off Cassie and gave Paul a sympathetic look. "Welcome to the club, Paul. The club of what we don't tell the pups because they'll freak out."

"Brady was scared enough about Saskatchewan or Calgary coming for the imprints when we were gone," Jake murmured quietly, "If he had known there were at least three other Packs within a several hours run, he would have been completely panicked." Then he cast an apologetic look at Cassie. "Sorry, Cass. That wasn't meant to scare you."

"Naw. I've been hunted by worse," she chuckled, and hummed happily as she headed back into the cabin.

"Is she joking?" Jake asked seriously, glancing at Paul, who frowned.

"I think so. I'll ask her later."

"Make sure you do. The last thing we need is for Cass to have the Russian mafia or some shit after her. Okay, so each gummy represents a Pack of at least four. Half a gummy is two, a gummy head is a lone wolf."

"Aww, there's a little gummy head in Hoquiam," Seth chuckled, and Jake glared at it before deliberately adding the gummy head to the full bears on La Push.

"These are the Packs I found that were of any significant size, but I think we've learned from Saskatchewan that size doesn't necessarily mean strength," Jake said drolly, and Paul grimaced. "The big Packs that I was able to find were in these places. Calgary's in Alberta, about eight hundred miles by car and about a five hour run for us wolves, maybe shorter. I'm working off of the slowest of us at about 150 miles per hour, but some of us can make it faster, so we have to assume the Calgary Pack's got faster wolves too."

Seth followed the coastline up towards Alaska, showing Paul the next big Pack. "There's a Pack outside of Juneau, Alaska, which is why Jake only got that far north. They were pretty mean, and he had to beat town. Their territory is more north and east of Juneau, I think to stay out of Calgary's way. They're about nineteen hundred miles away by road, but we can run a more direct path along the coast. They're still about a nine hour run, so it's less of a threat."

Jake picked up where Seth left off, running a large thumb across the map. "British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan are pretty empty, so we think the Calgary Alpha rounded up any smaller Packs and pulled them into his own. Saskatchewan only has the two wolfborn that we know of, which from what Jack told us makes him very strong. Think of one Alpha bolstered by four or more she-wolves, and that's Tupkuk. He can hold his own, but the rest of this territory has been stripped of able bodied wolves."

"How big are Calgary and Juneau?" Paul asked with a frown, noticing that the gummy system was breaking down from Seth eating them. "The Pack was under the assumption from meeting Calgary in February that they were about ten or fifteen strong, and I've never heard of the Juneau Pack until today."

The Alpha and the Beta shared a look. "We think Juneau's Alpha has at least ten wolves and one's a she-wolf," Jake said seriously. "The more we've learned about Calgary, the closer I would put it at thirty or thirty five."

Paul went still. "You're kidding," he said, then he cursed, his eyes travelling to the cabin where his imprint was humming happily, trying to scramble eggs for them all and failing miserably. "That many wolves…there's no way we could fight them off."

"Calgary has numbers, Paul, but so did the culled Pack and we took down all of them without losing a wolf," Seth said simply, following Paul's eyes. "Plus remember, the reason the Quileute people have survived so long when other tribes haven't is because this land is so easily defendable. Plus we have something those other Pack's don't."

"What's that?"

"Me," Jake said firmly. "I'm the strongest Alpha I've encountered, and I keep getting stronger. Leah going into heat the first time boosted me, and Jack boosted me too. You becoming third boosted me, and as harsh as it is to admit it, the more powerful Embry has been getting, the more I have been too. The biggest advantage and disadvantage we have right now is Leah, because if I lose her to another Alpha, it'll weaken me a lot."

"Won't happen," Seth growled fiercely and Jake gave the younger man a smile.

"Lee-lee's my girl, even if she's still preoccupied with Sam, as Cassie so subtly pointed out," Jake chuckled. "I'm keeping her close."

"Not too close," the Beta muttered, making Jake laugh.

"Seth's protective sibling instincts aside," the Alpha smirked, "Leah's safe as long as she sticks with us three and stays in the rez when she's alone. Other Packs of size nearby are the Yellowstone Pack, about six hours away, and I think there's four of them. There's also a Pack about the same size in Salt Lake, about eight hours away. Neither have she-wolves, unless they are hiding them close. After that there's a gap, almost no Packs until you get down into Mexico or on the east side of the Mississippi River. It's like these guys either stuck close to the area or went as far from here as they could get."

"Are there any lone wolves on the west side of the States, now that Seth has eaten everyone but us?" Paul asked, and Seth swallowed the Calgary Pack before smiling innocently.

"Besides Jack before he joined the Pack, there's only been a few. One was that kid that died, the one I pulled into the Pack before it happened, and that other pup is still who knows where if he's still alive. I think there's another body ghosting about in Southern California," Jake said, and then he grew the expression of one greatly annoyed as Seth began to snicker. "Oh yeah. There's this complete asshole named Thom that lives in Death Valley. He's a dick, and smells like he hasn't had a shower in a few decades. He pissed me off enough that he's missing part of his left shoulder now. I doubt chunks that big grow back."

"What did he do?" Paul asked curiously as Seth began openly laughing.

"He bit Jake's tail," Seth chortled. "He took about three inches of it off. The hair grew back but the tail didn't."

Jake glared at Seth. "Really, was that necessary for him to know?"

"Paul's one of the top three, man. If you've lost coordination because of your tail shortening disability, Paul has to compensate."

Cassie poked her blonde head out of the door, a pan of ruined eggs and a spatula in her hand, her hazel eyes sparkling. "Does that mean Jake has a chunk missing from his tail in human form? I want to see."

"Cass," Paul chided her disapprovingly, but he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down next to him. She was at least wearing a shirt this time, but one of her own so it wasn't much better. "Since you're listening anyways, at least do it less sneakily."

"Nope, I'm trying to impress your wolf with my wolfishness, and being sneaky is part of that," Cassie chirped, and then she sighed happily and snuggled back in. "Hi, Paul's wolf. I love you."

The wolf, who had been napping for nearly a day straight, yawned and blinked peacefully. It loved their mate too. Perhaps they should go hunt something for her? She was still so small and what she had caught herself smelled to have been dead too long. Maybe it had been sick and easy to catch?

Paul burst out laughing, and Cassie's smile faded into a sad little look. "What did he say?"

"He said he loves you too, and that you should leave the 'hunting' to me," Paul smirked, pulling the pan out of her hands.

"But he loves me?"

"Yes, Cass," Paul said indulgently, poking at the eggs and thinking that they might still be partially palatable. "It woke up for you, which is more than I could say for any of the rest of us. I tried to ask him something yesterday for an hour and he just kept snoring. Can I have these?" Having consumed four dozen of her cookies had taught Paul that a wolf's stomach could handle more than he had realized. Plus he was hungry.

"I guess so, they looked kind of bad to me," Cassie watched him start eating the eggs off the spatula, her surprise turning to pleasure as he worked his way around the pan.

When he was done he smiled at her a little and set the pan beside them. "Thanks, baby."

"I can't believe you just ate those," Jake said, eyeing the charred bits that were left and looking a little disturbed.

"They weren't that bad," Paul defended his imprint, hugging her a little closer. "Cass tried, and I don't see you assholes getting any breakfast."

"Dude, half of them were still raw and clear, and the other half were blackened beyond recognition," Seth smirked, sharing a look with Jake. "Aww, Cass, Paul's in _love_. Too bad your cooking's going to kill him tonight, it could have been a beautiful start to something magical."

Cassie blinked and looked at Paul. "Paul, Seth isn't a virgin too, is he? Gosh, maybe you should run the Pack, this is becoming a little embarrassing."

Paul grinned at them viciously.

"So back to the number of wolves running around here," Jake said smoothly, winking at Cassie. "There's a big Pack in the south somewhere in the Smokey Mountains, and another outside of New York City, both near where a lot of newborns keep showing up. I think they have some sort of pact, because neither one was very welcoming and their mannerisms were very similar. Their scouts kept giving me the runaround, and both Pack territories I flat out couldn't get near without losing my tail."

"_More_ of your tail," Seth added helpfully, and Jake growled at him lightly, making Seth smile.

"I would say each are twenty to thirty wolves in size, the New York Pack I think has a she-wolf, and the Smoky Mountain Pack…they have something else. A young female, but she smelled different. I think she's the wolfborn child Jack was referring to, but I couldn't get close enough to tell. The one that he said might die because she's still young."

Cassie made a sad noise in her throat at that, and Paul entangled their fingers.

"There are at least three Packs of four or five drifting around Central America, but for some reason they are shifting, not staying in one spot, and the further south we went after the pup, the more scarce any signs of leeches or wolves became. I'm also sure I missed some of the furthest Northern Packs but between Calgary and Juneau it was just too dangerous to explore alone. My gut tells me there's more up there."

"So how many does that make?" Seth asked, frowning as he stared at the map, and Jake sighed. It was Paul who answered, though.

"That's a hundred and fifteen on the low side, including our Pack, and a hundred and forty three on the high side, not including the lone wolves or ones we haven't found," Paul rumbled quietly. "That's a lot of wolves."

"But we don't know if that's more or less than it should be," Jake said in mild annoyance. "We don't know a lot of things, and the only person I can ask falls apart every time I try. I bullied information out of Jack for Embry's sake, but I won't do it again to satisfy idle curiosity."

"I'm not sure that this can be considered idle curiosity, Jake," Paul disagreed, shifting Cassie on his leg and running a finger along the map. There's nearly sixty wolves within running distance of La Push, and we have to assume some of them are old. We've lost so much history about ourselves, about the first Pack, but it just doesn't make sense to me. Why are all of these wolves _not_ in La Push? The legends say that we were here to protect this land, not _all_ the land. Why are they spread out like this?"

"They followed the water when they fled," Cassie murmured half to herself, then realized that all three wolves were looking at her. She smiled and leaned over, placing her small hand on the map, her palm covering Washington and her fingers spread. "Look. If you were an animal and you had to leave home, wouldn't you follow the water? There's all these rivers in Canada, and the Snake River into Idaho and eventually Wyoming. Maybe the Salt Lake Pack drifted further south to get away from Calgary, but it makes sense."

"Jake, if you were a centuries old wolf whose whole purpose in life was to kill leeches, and you were leaving La Push, where would you go?" Seth asked, tapping his finger on New York City.

"I'd go where I could do the most damage on the leeches," Jake replied, following his Beta's line of thought. "And centuries ago there weren't a lot of humans that weren't natives around here. The East Coast built up a heavier population much faster than the West Coast."

"In the early seventeen hundreds, there were only about a quarter million people in the country," Paul mused, thinking back to his history courses from high school. It had been one of the few things that had caught his attention. "By the eighteen hundreds there were five million, and by the early nineteen hundreds there were close to seventy-five, maybe seventy-six million. The country exploded, but there were so many immigrants that looked so different, it would be easy for normal people to miss the leeches slipping into the country and then hiding in the wilderness between feeding."

"They split the Pack, half here on this side of the country and half on the other," Seth murmured. "The Canadian Packs make sense, because animals don't care of political borderlines when setting up territories, but why so few Packs further south? There are leeches there too."

"I don't know," Jake shook his head, and Cassie made face at him.

"Maybe there's a boogey man down there, Jake," she teased, but he only frowned.

"Maybe there is. I don't know. Why would they leave, though? I don't understand."

"If you won't ask Jack, ask one of the other Alphas," Cassie shrugged. "Or me and Paul can do it, we're going to Canada anyway for a party in two days. Remember the party, Paul?" Paul was having a harder time with the 'Cass and he could go find an Alpha' thing, but Cassie frowned and tugged on his pocket. "Paul? Paul, you promised?"

"Cass, I think going alone to another Pack is a bad idea…"

"Naw, she's got a point," Jake interrupted, sounding pleased. "And you won't be alone, I'll send Jack with you, Paul. Short of another culled Pack, he can hold his own, and you're just a little too comfortable staying here anyways. Take Cass to her party, and then make a little trip."

"A trip where exactly?" Paul asked, grinding his teeth, and Seth and Jake turned identical grins his way.

"Pick a Pack," they said in tandem and Paul growled. Not at them. But maybe at the wooden planks beneath them.

"I'd suggest Yellowstone," Seth said lightly, "They seem like the least likely to kill you, more passive than most Packs, and I think you are nearly as dominant as their Alpha. This one won't be able to grab you. Plus you can take Cass sightseeing."

"Yay! Ummm, I mean, that's such a _bad_ idea, guys. Paul is right, much too dangerous," Cassie said solemnly. Then she beamed at Paul. "Yay! Road trip with Paul!"

"Me, you, and Jack...on a road trip…_alone_." Paul gave his leaders a look of disgust.

"Yes, after the party of course," Cassie said, pursing her lips as she thought it over. "Do you think we should invite Jack to the party or just have him meet us afterwards? It is invitation only, but if Jack would feel left out…"

"No," came three chorused replies, but Cassie wasn't listening.

"I've never met Jack before, do you think he's attractive, Paul? Do you know what shirt size he is? Maybe I could find him a date, too, or I could have two dates. Would you mind sharing me for a party, Paul? All the popular girls bring two dates these days, anyways. Please? Pretty please?"

"I fucking hate you Jake."

But Jake didn't care. He was getting a phone call, and was off the porch and out of earshot before it finished the first ring. No one asked why, no one questioned the Alpha, but Seth and Paul did share a look.

Something was different with Jake. But Paul knew his place, and wouldn't be the one trying to find out.

* * *

The doctor was a touch annoyed. Misty had been in the middle of assisting Carlisle's surgery and didn't appreciate getting kicked out of a learning experience, not even for one of her mentor's favored patients. Still Misty took one look at the red eyed girl leaning against the panicked looking boy's shoulder and sighed. She had seen that look before, and it wasn't an easy one to fix.

Misty entered the room quietly, nodding at the handsome man who had his arm around Samantha Carter, Misty's patient from a few months ago. The young doctor poured a paper cup of water from the sink and limped over to where the couple sat on the bed, pulling a chair up in front of them. Embry Call, that was the boy's name, he had been here constantly after Samantha's car crash. Samantha's _supposed_ car crash. After whatever it was that had happened to Samantha that left a bruise the shape of a paw print across her chest and her back nearly broken in ways that a car crash could never have done. That car crash, the one she had helped Carlisle cover up by leaving specific details out of the reports they gave Samantha's father and some others from the reservation that had poked around for information.

Just because Misty had learned not to ask in certain situations didn't mean she was blind. And to be honest, she had wondered how long it would take this girl to end up in here. Misty handed Embry the water, but when he offered it to Samantha, the young woman shook her head. Crying patients were hard, sometimes it was easier to talk to their significant others instead. So Misty turned to Embry.

"So, what are you here for today, Mr. Call?" Misty asked in a softer version of her professional voice. "The nurse wasn't able to gather much."

"You can call me Embry. And we were supposed to get the morning after pill," Embry said, looking a touch embarrassed as he admitted it, but Misty just nodded, jotting that down on her notepad. He gave Samantha a worried look and turned to Misty. "She's been really off the last two days, doctor. Sims isn't herself, and the fact that she's even letting me talk for her…"

Concern creased his face as he stroked a hand down her hair. Samantha seemed to be fighting to get a hold of herself, but she kept her nose against Embry's arm, and so Misty directed the second question Embry's way. "It says here that Samantha is on the birth control shot. Is that the only form of birth control you have been using, Embry?"

"We use condoms," he muttered, flushing a little as he added, "And I usually pull out just to be safe, but we didn't do either this morning. I thought we were here to get the pill, but I'm not sure what is going on anymore," he admitted, throwing her a look for help as Samantha sat silently, tears rolling down her face.

Misty looked at Samantha closely, and no one stopped her when she checked her patient's pulse and temperature. Then Misty addressed Samantha gently. "Samantha, is this the first time you've been on birth control?" Misty asked and Samantha nodded, wiping at her face. "How long have you been on it?"

"Only a week," she whispered in a raw sounding voice, making Embry growl. It was an interesting noise, not directed at anyone specifically, but a territorial possessive sound.

"How do you feel?" Misty inquired, ignoring the growling man in the corner. As long as the kid wasn't gnawing on any bedpans, than he could growl away if it helped him. Samantha didn't answer, but her eyes glanced for a split second towards Embry, and Misty nodded. "Embry, do you mind giving Samantha and me a minute?"

"Of course not," Embry practically jumped to do as she asked, throwing her another look, one that begged her to help his girl. It was sweet. Misty waited until the door closed behind him and then she smiled at Samantha sympathetically.

"Let me guess? You feel like hell, huh?"

The younger girl's head shot up and Misty chuckled. "It's pretty normal the first time you start anything hormone based. The first month is the worst, depending on the woman. Where did you get the shot?"

"Here," she said softly, holding out her right arm for Misty to check. It looked normal enough, no inflammation.

"Not every birth control treatment works for everyone, Samantha," Misty explained. "They affect us differently. Mood swings, depression, anxiety are all common side effects, although most go away after enough time has passed. The problem with the shot is that if it doesn't work for you, if the side effects are too strong, you can't just stop taking it like you can with the pill. But I kind of think this may be more than just the birth control, and now that Embry's not here to have his feelings hurt, answer me truthfully. How have you really been feeling?"

Samantha pulled her legs up underneath her, her body language defensive. But her watery eyes were filled with confusion. "I…I don't know. I don't cry, I _never_ cry, and now I can't seem to stop. And there's all this stuff going on that I don't understand…I just don't know. Embry keeps asking me what's wrong, and even when I can tell him, I don't know what to say. I don't ever lean on him like this, I _always_ stand on my own two feet. I hate being like this, but I'm having a hard time not."

Misty double checked her patient's history, more assured that she was right. "Samantha, when did your mother die?" Misty asked gently. "How long ago was that?"

After a moment of silence, Samantha quietly said, "December twenty seventh of last year."

The doctor nodded. "So she died about five months ago. And then you came here directly afterwards?"

"Yes. I live with my dad, Joseph Carter."

"How's that?" Misty asked, noticing the girl stiffen.

"It's fine," she said quickly, glancing at the door Embry had left out of. Misty had figured out pretty quickly that Joseph Carter wasn't well liked around the reservation, and even Carlisle had seemed worried about sending Samantha home. Misty had wondered if it was something they should report, but her mentor had insisted that Samantha's friends, Embry especially, would take care of her and they shouldn't interfere. It was the only time she had been tempted to ignore him, but Misty owed Carlisle too much to start ignoring his advice now.

"How's it really, when you're not telling a big angry boy who obviously adores you?" Misty countered and Samantha lifted reddened eyes, smiling ever so slightly.

"It's…okay. Dad's a jerk but he's got moments of not being that way. He's not as bad as everyone makes him out to be. But it kind of sucks having to keep telling everyone that your father actually cares about you when he probably doesn't," Samantha mumbled, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. It was a little thin, and there was a hole in her jeans, although her brown and pink shoes were nice and new.

"But you have Embry to talk to, who cares about you?" Misty questioned and Samantha's defensive body language softened slightly. She sniffed and wiped her eyes again.

"Yeah. Embry…he loves me. He's always been so good to me."

"You sound sad about that," Misty said with a little smile.

"Embry is the best person I have ever known," Samantha declared loyally. "And he doesn't deserve half of what's happened to him." Then she sighed, slumping a little. "He doesn't deserve to have me worrying him, but you think it might be the birth control? It might be making me act like this? That at least is something that makes sense to me."

"Partially," Misty murmured. "Samantha, you had the car accident right after moving here. How have you been healing?"

"Good. Embry helped me do my re-hab and now I'm back in training. I do martial arts."

"Any tremors at all, loss of balance or coordination?"

"No." Samantha looked at her as Misty jotted something else down in her notebook. The younger girl's face went still. "You're asking that because of my mother's medical history," Samantha said quietly. "Those are early signs of Huntington's disease."

Off her game or not, this girl was smart, and the doctor had no choice but to nod. "Have you ever been tested, Samantha?"

"No," she replied, a touch too quickly, but Misty didn't say anything. "You think I'm going crazy too, like my mother did," she said softly as if to herself, and then she laughed, a small bitter sound. She slumped even more and put her face in her hands, muttering, "Because that would just be the icing on this big fucked up cake."

Misty sighed and sat back in her chair. "No, Samantha, I don't think so. But changes in personality and social behavior are early warning signs, as you obviously know. The physical signs are easier to spot, that's why I asked. When you turn eighteen, I would suggest getting tested, because you have a fifty percent chance of carrying the same gene mutation that causes the disease. You need to know that even if you would test positive, Samantha, that doesn't mean that you would be sick. You could have years before symptoms even start showing and years after of treatable symptoms before it got bad."

"My mother died of pneumonia," the girl said softly. "In connection to the disease, but she had gone…her mind was gone in only a couple years."

"Sometimes it comes on faster," Misty acknowledged. "The point is that while I would recommend you get tested immediately, I also think that you're overlooking something very big here. You lost your mother only a few months ago, after years of living with her as she progressively got sicker. The stress that comes from dealing with an ill parent, especially one mentally ill, can be overwhelming. When she passed away you immediately moved to a new town, both of which are huge stressors. You live with a less than stellar role model and you are involved sexually with a young man that seems very serious about you. Again, both things that can contribute to increased stress levels. Other than the car accident, has there been any other trauma you've experienced? Especially in the last four weeks?"

Samantha turned haunted eyes Misty's way that suddenly filled with tears. "Nothing I can talk about with you," she whispered.

"But can you talk about it with someone else?" Misty pressed. "Embry, maybe?"

"Some of it…some not. Believe me, I tried, and it went really _really_ badly," Samantha almost laughed at that, even though her tears were coming faster. Misty reached over for the box of tissues on the desk near them, handing them to the girl in front of her.

"Is there anyone else you can talk to?" Misty wondered, "Friends maybe? Family back from where you moved from?" When Samantha shook her head and looked at her lap, Misty's heart went out to her, but she kept her professionalism. "Samantha, stressors are like building blocks. You can carry a couple, some really strong people can carry a lot, but when too many stack on top of each other, eventually you'll break down beneath it. It's not a sign of weakness, physical reactions to stress are a biochemical fact. And sometimes all it takes is one more little block to bring everything down on you at once."

"Crashing and burning?" Samantha asked softly, and Misty wondered if she could break her role and give this girl a hug. She needed one. Instead Misty continued.

"I'm not a psychiatrist, Samantha, but my professional opinion is that you're a very independent girl who's used to relying on herself. You've experienced too much stress in the last few years, and way too much stress lately, and it's finally catching up with you. The hormone changes from the birth control aren't helping, and neither is the worry of a teen pregnancy. What you need, Samantha, is to have someone to talk to and a significant lessening of the anxiety in your life."

"I can talk to Embry," Samantha insisted, albeit weakly. "Not about everything, but about most things."

Misty nodded, and then she smiled. "Then can I bring him back in here? Because it would help later to not have to explain all of this yourself."

Samantha hesitated and then agreed. Misty stuck her head out of the door, and saw the handsome young man at the far end of the hall, by the noisy doors leading to the cafeteria. As if he had been waiting, he looked up immediately and came striding down the hall when Misty beckoned. Embry entered the room after the tall doctor and went to Samantha's side, reaching for her hand. Tears and worried looks aside, they were cute together. The young man looked up at Misty hopefully, having noticed that Samantha's tears had dried up for the moment.

"Embry, the bad news is that Samantha's symptoms are being caused by a severe case of cranial dermatitis," Misty said very seriously as she sat back down. "This disease is also known as _scalpus itchus_. She'll be fine, but we have to shave her head as part of the treatment. When we do this, it'll be very important that you be supportive of her. Shaving a woman's head bald is a very traumatic and aggressive approach to curing cranial dermatitis, and requires a strict diet of dairy foods. The cultures in milk based products will help immensely, but I suggest ice cream and milk chocolate especially. Can you do this?"

Embry blinked, but then nodded solemnly. "Of course, doc. Anything for my girl." Samantha suddenly snickered, and Embry looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"Baby, she's teasing you," Samantha whispered, and Misty grinned at the now flushing Embry. Then she closed her notepad and became more serious.

"Embry, the truth is that Samantha is suffering from what's called acute stress disorder," Misty told them. "It's caused by exposure to a traumatic event, or in Samantha's case, possible multiple events. She's being a bit vague about that fact. ASD is a variation of post-traumatic stress disorder and usually occurs within four weeks of the event or events. It can resolve itself, but counseling helps. Sometimes it can shift into full blown post-traumatic stress disorder, and to be perfectly honest, I'm surprised that Samantha has done as well with everything she's been exposed to as she has. Losing a parent, moving, car accidents, sex, all these things build up on each other. And if there was something else traumatic, something recent that has to be kept a secret, that probably hasn't helped either. Stressors are bad enough without adding secrets on top of it."

Embry's eyes went hard as stone at that, and Misty let her pointed look linger on him before moving on.

"I know the crying is not usual for Samantha, but it's not a bad thing, not if it stops in the next few days or so. Today was what we sometimes call a catharsis, a release of emotion. It's a cleansing of sorts, and crying is a good way of getting an emotional release. It's not a bad thing, but it is proof that the stressors in Samantha's life need to ease up."

The young man was nodding, and he sat up a little straighter, as if he could protect his girlfriend from the world just with better posture. It was a nice idea, not a sound idea, but a nice one. Misty nodded approvingly, saying, "Perhaps the stress of a possible pregnancy pushed her over the tipping point, perhaps it was something else. But now that we all know what's going on, it's important not to ignore it. Right now Samantha needs someone who can help her through some of this. If therapy isn't an option, having someone or multiple someone's to talk to will benefit her. Pushing someone to talk when they aren't ready isn't the answer, but if she chooses to share, Embry, you need to be understanding. So listen, don't tease her, and don't brush things off. Make her important, and help her feel supported. It will make a difference in the end."

"I would never brush her off anyway," Embry said seriously, squeezing Samantha's hand. "Especially not about something like this."

"Good," Misty smiled slightly. "Samantha, anti-anxiety medicine would probably help, but I can't give that to a minor without your father present. The birth control shot lasts three months and after that I would suggest discontinuing it. Go on a lower dose estrogen pill, one that can be stopped easier if you continue having problems. Because you're seventeen, I can legally give you the morning after pill, but it will only increase the estrogen levels that you're already probably having problems with. You most likely will be fine without the pill today, but it's a safeguard. It's up to you, but if you take it, be prepared for the crying to get worse. Embry, you'll get to spend the rest of the next couple days making this up to her, whether it's your fault or not."

"That's pretty familiar," Embry chuckled, but he wrapped his arm around Samantha's shoulders and pressed his forehead to hers. "Sweetheart, what do you want to do?"

"A baby would be a bad idea, Embry," she admitted softly and Misty saw a little flash of disappointment in the young man's eyes. But then Embry nodded, and hugged her a little closer.

"Last thing, you two," Misty said in her most professional, 'you must do what I say', voice. "Samantha? If you start experiencing _any_ symptoms at all like we were talking about, you _need_ to come get tested. Without insurance genetic testing isn't cheap, and it requires a parent's authorization, but catching these things early is paramount. Embry, the day she turns eighteen, you drag her butt back in here. Samantha's got a fifty percent chance of having what her mother had, and if she does, if this isn't stress or hormone induced personality changes, then we need to know. And if you two are serious about each other, then you both need to know. I'll have the nurse bring the pill, go ahead and take it now, and you can tell her how you want this billed."

Embry's arm tightened around Samantha a little tighter. "Thank you," he said, but he was already completely focused on Samantha, his large fingers brushing the remnants of her tears from her eyes. Then Embry suddenly sniffed deeply and looked at Misty, his head tipped sideways, an almost dog like maneuver. "Doc, are you Quileute?"

Misty paused halfway out of her chair. "No, but my mother was Cherokee," Misty replied, surprised. Then she grinned. "No one usually picks up on that, I just look like a tanned farm girl. Samantha, if you need anything, please let me know. For whatever reason, my mentor is awfully fond of you and your friends."

Misty smiled, and then to her embarrassment she got her foot tangled on the chair leg as she finished standing up. Embry's hand found her waist to steady her, and Misty could feel the heat in his hand, too much heat, before he quickly pulled away. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed her mouth. There were things in this world she didn't know. Sometimes it was okay for it to stay that way.

Feeling a little more pleased than normal for helping a patient, Dr. Misty Foster limped out of the room and off to the surgical ward. After all, for some things her curiosity would _never_ be satisfied, and even if Embry Call and Samantha Carter didn't need to be healed, someone else always did.

* * *

Jake stood in the woods, finally feeling Samantha's distress soften into manageable levels. Everyone always talked about how strong and quiet she was, but this girl was not acting that way. Maybe it was him. Probably it was him. The fact that she had needed to call him to tell him to stop what he was doing with their bond, and her reaction afterward said that it was probably him. Damn, he was usually better at gauging this kind of stuff.

He had clamped down on the bond, but Jake hadn't thought of the repercussions to her. Not feeling each other was better, especially if Jake wanted to fight this imprint, but he didn't want to hurt Samantha in the process. So instead of doing things as normal, Jake sat down in the grass and tried his best to relax, letting the imprint bond wash over him, letting Samantha wash over him. It wasn't that soft happiness that Paul seemed to have found with Cassie. It was hard. His imprint was so hard inside, Jake wasn't sure how Embry had ever managed to soften her.

Maybe because Embry was a good guy, the best kind really. If situations were different, if Embry would have imprinted on her and not have been sick, what those two would have ended up having would have been amazing. Too bad Jake had waltzed in and fucked it up.

Okay, he could do this. He could find a way to mute out the bond without hurting his imprint. She was human after all, so it made sense that jerking round the Pack bonds, ones built to be withstood by a wolf, could cause damage to her. This flood of feelings from her, it was like running water, and he had kinked the hose, causing it to build up and then burst when unkinked. Maybe he could find a way to turn the water off at the source instead. Jake laid back in the grass and allowed himself to relax even further, letting all the Pack wash over him. When he was this close to them, he could identify each member, the specific feel they gave him when connected to him. And then Jake experimented.

He hadn't warned Seth prior to this, but the Beta could keep a cool head. The bond of emotion between Seth and Jake wasn't a string. It was a place, a spot inside Jake that belonged to Seth and Seth only. He could feel the Beta, but he focused on that spot, focused on the Beta's emotions coming from that spot, and then he pushed it down inside where it was harder to find.

Seth had been phased and off in the distance a wolf let out a deep mournful howl. Sighing, Jake stopped pushing. Again, too hard. So he practiced, pushing at the Seth spot, slowly turning off the hose of emotion, until the Beta was muted in his mind. There, but just a whisper, as if Jake was far away. Pleased, Jake eased off and let Seth return to where he was supposed to be, and then he grinned. The sandy colored wolf now laying by his side gave him a reproachful look, then placed his huge head on Jake's leg. The Alpha scratched Seth's ears apologetically, and then he focused again on a spot.

This time it was Samantha. This time he pushed her down, eased her away until she too was just a trickle in his head, a whisper of what she had been. This time it worked a lot better.

* * *

Embry paid for Samantha's medicine and the doctor's visit, trying to not let her see how much it cost. But she did, and it made her cringe.

Poor Embry, trying to take care of her all the time. He was so protective, and Dr. Foster telling him to be even more attentive would normally make Samantha want to strangle the older woman. But instead Samantha just kept her hand tucked in Embry's until he drove her home. Even with only half the story, the doctor had made her feel better, a lot better. Yeah, she had been under a lot of stress in the last few months, and Jake imprinting had only compounded it. Throw Embry's reaction to her admittance of the imprint on top of that, and she had stumbled badly. But Embry had been there, the way he was always there for her when she needed him, forcibly dragging her feet back under her. She would be okay. They would figure this out eventually.

They would figure it out together.

"Embry?"

"What is it sweetheart?" he asked as he drove, Embry's hand now on the back of her neck, his fingers lightly stroking her hair.

"You proposed to me today," she told him, turning from the window to look at him. Embry hesitated a moment, and then nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much, huh?" he admitted, and then he gave her a shy smile. "Why, you saying yes, Samantha Carter?" The hope in his chocolate eyes pulled at her, pulled her in his direction, made her lean in and touch his side with equally shy fingertips.

"I'm supposed to go to college, Embry," Samantha said softly. "I have a scholarship I worked my whole life for, that my mother gave up a lot for in supporting me in earning it. I can't just not go. That's what she wanted from me, it was so important to her."

"It's important to me, too, sweetheart," Embry promised honestly, his thumb moving along the side of her neck in a gentle caress. "For selfish reasons, too. If you have a college education, you'll be able to make more money than a high school graduate could make. It's part of the problem with the Pack, we're smart guys, but we just can't fit the education in there and it takes a toll on us financially. Even if you keep running the dojo with me, you having an education will just give us more credibility. So of course I'm going to support that. We'll figure it out, even if I have to get the guys to sit on me for months at a time so you can focus without me bugging you. Marrying me won't end that for you, sweetheart, but I'm not trying to rush you into anything."

Samantha gave him a little smile. "Bullshit. You'd marry me today if I wanted to and if I was eighteen."

"I'll drag you in front of the elders and do it anyway," Embry said with a warmth in his eyes that pushed at her doubt, pushed at the coldness she had inside. But he didn't know things and he didn't know what he was asking. "I've got connections, you know."

"Embry? Can I tell you something? Something that I didn't ever want anyone to know? Something that you have to try with everything you have to keep from the Pack?" Samantha asked in a very quiet voice, and Embry tensed. The hand on her neck stayed gentle, though.

"Of course, honey," he told her, giving her an encouraging smile. "I think the doctor made it pretty clear that telling me stuff was important right now. Since coming home I've been better at controlling my thoughts. I can't promise nothing will slip but I can try."

Samantha took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled, her fingers now tugging at the fabric of his shirt. "Embry…there's been a lot going on lately, stuff that has been hitting close to home. That night up on the cliffs, the stuff the elders said about my mom, about her being a risk to the Pack and how I might be too…It was really hard to hear."

"They were just trying to piss you off, sweetheart," Embry said, although his soothing tone was ruined by the anger under his voice. "They were using the only things that they knew would set you off."

"They might have been right," Samantha whispered softly. Embry shook his head, his handsome face marred by a frown.

"No, they were wrong. Everything they said, everything they did, they were wrong. And don't think I've forgotten what happened, Sims, don't think it's over. Jake-"

"Please leave Jake out of it," she asked a touch plaintively. "Just no more Jake, not today."

"You don't like him, do you?" Embry stated, a touch of a smile on his lips. "You might be the only one in history to feel that way."

"I prefer the brother who has earned what he has, not the one who was gifted it on a silver fucking platter," Samantha snapped heatedly, and Embry blinked in surprise. Then he smiled at her warmly.

"Have I ever told you that you standing up for me is the best thing I've ever felt?" Embry said softly. "You're so damn loyal, sweetheart, it makes me want to…"

"Marry me?" Samantha raised an eyebrow and Embry grinned sheepishly.

"Maybe. So…I'll try to sell my good points and you can decide," he said with a smile. "I'm very good looking. _Very_ good looking."

"Hmmm," she thought about it and then grinned at him. "Agreed. And?"

Seeing he was making her smile for the first time today, Embry played it up and puffed his chest out dramatically. "And I'm very loyal too, although the whole wolf thing helps. I can cook well enough that we won't get poisoned, and I'm tall. Chicks like tall guys."

"Hmmm. Disagreed," Samantha shook her head. "_Some_ chicks like tall guys."

"_You_ like tall guys," Embry countered and she smiled a little more.

"I like _a_ tall guy. I'm undecided about the rest. Are we out of selling points?"

Embry chuckled and slanted a sexy grin her way. "I can make you come at least twice every time we have sex, even during a quickie, and double that if I take my time. That at _least_ makes me marriage material, if not utterly awesome."

"That makes you a good lover."

"I'm your best friend," he added, and Samantha nodded.

"Definitely."

"A husband should be both, along with someone who will work his ass off to take care of us, who won't hold you back. Someone who loves you more than he loves to fucking _breathe_, who'll be there even when you're crying all day and he just doesn't understand _why_," Embry's voice had softened. "What more is it I'm missing? What more do you want, honey? I'll give it to you, if you tell me. I'll give you anything you ask, I just want you with me. I know we're young, but neither of us have been kids for years. I know what I want in life, and you're in the center of that. You're the dream I didn't think I was going to get, sweetheart."

Samantha closed her eyes, her fingers falling away from his side. Embry was right. He was everything she had wanted in another person, he was her dream, but life wasn't dreams, it was reality. And there were several hard realities about her that Embry didn't know, things that made his dream of her so much harder.

"I lied to the doctor today," Samantha said quietly. "When she asked me something when you weren't there. She took me by surprise and I lied."

Embry went very still, and his fingers dropped off of her neck. The large man put both hands on the steering wheel and Samantha could see them trembling slightly. He knew her. Embry _knew_ her inside and out, he had spent the last half of a year learning everything he could about her, and Embry was very thorough. He knew what she kept from people and what she shared, and he knew what she meant without having to ask. His jaw clenched, but then loosened as he took several deep calming breaths.

"How long have you known you were positive for your mother's…disease?" his voice choked a little at the end, and Samantha made a soothing noise in her throat, now stroking his neck gently.

"Since the day I turned sixteen and she thought I was better equipped to handle it," Samantha admitted. "Not knowing was killing me, and I was practically living in a gym to try and deal with the anger and uncertainty it was causing. Martial arts has kept me sane, Embry, has kept me focused and confident. And I'll know immediately if I start showing symptoms, because I won't be able to do the moves as well. You'll see it when I stop progressing and start regressing in skill. Early detection, I figured that out a long time ago."

Embry swallowed, his eyes flickering across the road as his mind raced. "I watch…every time you do a high level skill I always watch. And you seem fine, Sims, better than fine," Embry told her, as if he was reassuring himself and Samantha nodded.

"I _feel_ fine, Embry," she told him. "And I don't want people to know, because I could go for a lot of years just feeling fine. Most people with Huntington's don't have it hit until middle to late adulthood, and the doctor was right, once I start showing symptoms, I could easily have another twenty years. Not everyone has the mental problems my mother did, sometimes it's just physical deterioration."

"_If_ you show symptoms," Embry said fiercely, and Samantha sighed, giving him a regretful look.

"No, baby. When. It'll be when for me."

Embry made a pained noise in his throat, close to a whine, and Samantha scooted closer. "I didn't want to tell you this, Embry, but you're getting so serious about me, and the doctor was right. You need to know. You don't want to marry someone who might end up like my mother. You don't want days like today, wondering if I'm pregnant, because what if I pass it on? Embry, you don't want to marry someone who you'll have to take care of, someone who shouldn't even _try_ to bear your children. Who one day might wake up and think Sims and Samantha are two different people, and you have to treat each one differently. When my mother was Melissa she was entirely different then when she was Jessica. The only thing they had in common was they loved me as much as you do. More even. Embry, I've lived through that and I know…you don't want that responsibility."

"You don't know that," Embry growled, but there was an edge of hurt on his voice that broke her a little more than she already was from today.

"I'll move in with you, Embry," Samantha promised him. "I'll live with you and love you and be with only you until the day I day or the day you imprint, if you still want me to, but marriage isn't for us. You need to have an out when it gets bad, especially if it gets really bad, and I know you. If you marry me, you won't walk away, even when you should, and one day you will need to walk away."

"You don't _know_ that," he half snarled. "You don't know _what_ I'll do for you, how _hard_ I love you! Dammit Samantha, I'll marry you and love you and take care of you and-"

"And end up a bitter drunk who can't keep his temper, because being in love with someone emotionally disturbed will _break_ you?" she asked softly. "End up my father? No, baby. You need to be able to walk away. Stay with me while I'm me, but you have to be able to leave. I need you to have that option, because I love you too."

Embry looked torn between tears and yelling, so Samantha plunged on. She had tried last night and it had backfired, but she had to do this. She had to tell him. Then all her secrets would be out and there would be only them. If they still survived as a couple, then they were meant to be, no matter what else life had thrown at them.

"Embry, there's more," Samantha said in a thick voice, tears already welling up in her eyes. "Embry, you don't want to marry me because you'll blame yourself later. You'll blame yourself for something else, something even more important than this."

"_What_?" His hands were shaking harder now. "Samantha, what the _hell_ are you talking about?"

"I tried to tell you something last night, Embry," Samantha whispered as they crossed the border back into La Push, Embry slowing a little because of a squirrel darting across the road. "Something important, and the wolf took over, blocking it from your mind. It's the thing that's been messing me up so badly these last two days. Jake imprinted on me, Embry."

"You know, if you keep telling him this, I'm not going to catch it in time," Embry's wolf told her with a bit of a smirk, slanting a look her way with black eyes as he drove.

Last time this had happened, Samantha had frozen. This time she panicked.

She didn't think, she just moved, twisting and kicking Embry square in the temple as she grabbed for the wheel. The truck squealed sideways and skidded on the gravel, and Samantha wasn't sure how it didn't manage to flip over. Samantha was out the door before it had even stopped moving. She didn't know who was on patrol, but she didn't care. She had hit the gravel painfully but Samantha rolled to her feet, opening her mouth to scream out for any of them, but then a large hand clamped down on her mouth, muffling it as Embry's wolf carried her kicking and fighting back to the truck. She let out a terrified whimper when he pressed against her, trapping her against the truck, but the wolf was murmuring softly to her in Embry's voice.

"Shush, it's okay. Please don't be scared. Please don't be scared of us," he made a soft whining noise and dropped to his knees in front of her, and Samantha let out another small cry when he tilted his head back submissively, showing her his throat even though his arms were locked almost painfully around her. "I won't hurt you, but they'll kill him and they'll kill me. We won't hurt you, we'd never hurt _you_, you're our mate. Please don't hurt us."

The cold metal against her cheek contrasted to the warm nose nuzzling her stomach. He kept making soothing noises in his throat, and finally Samantha quivered and looked down. It was Embry, but not. This was the man she loved. But not. And she had no idea if the wolf was right, if the others would kill him. They had killed an entire Pack of wolves like this, only ones further gone than Embry was.

"If they know, they'll kill us," the wolf whispered again, pressing his nose to her lower abdomen. The wolf had taken Embry. The best thing in her life and this damn _thing_ had taken him from her. Suddenly, Samantha wasn't just scared. She was _pissed_.

Samantha didn't hurt Embry, but this asshole was another fucking matter. The passenger side door was still open, her hand against the seat. The wolf was faster than she was, so very much faster, but she had never turned on either one of them. So even though the wolf saw and heard her snatch the tire iron out of the back of the truck, it was still looking up at her with curious black eyes when she whipped it directly across his face. There was crunch, she might have broken Embry's jaw, but Samantha didn't stop to ask as she grabbed the seatbelt up at the top, wrenching her weight up. She kicked him in the face, pushing off his chest and using her momentum to shove herself up and over. She rolled and ended up crouched on the top of the truck, tire iron in hand and a snarl on her lips.

The wolf barked out a laugh and popped his jaw, coiling down into his own crouch playfully. "Nice, mate." And then he lunged for her.

Embry's wolf was just playing, because Embry could move faster than this when he wanted, and Samantha knew she should scream for help but she was too busy trying to keep from getting dragged off the top of the truck by her ankle. It wasn't going to happen, so she went with the pull, catching Embry's wolf across the face a second time with the tire iron, this time aiming for his eyes. Embry's wolf flinched back and she managed to twist out of his way as she fell, hitting the gravel on her elbows, the tire iron sliding under the car.

"Shit," she breathed and rolled for it, but Embry's wolf was already on top of her, a tiny scratch on his eyelid the only result of a human killing blow. He flipped her like she was nothing and straddled her, and he was still smiling as he pinned her wrists down onto the road. Panic filled Samantha, blew past her own walls she'd raised between herself and the world, and turned the imprint hose back on full throttle. The Alpha felt her fear, and his own rage filled her. It was like getting hit by a tidal wave, and Samantha broke the hold on her left wrist. She'd spent the last couple months with Embry pinning her, and she could get out of this shit, if he was willing to let her fight her way out.

Apparently Embry's wolf was still playing, because after some struggling she fought her way free and ended up scrambling backwards.

"Are you going to hit me again?" he asked playfully, following afterwards and pouncing. Was she going to hit him? No, but she would throw gravel in his eyes and kick him in the crotch, causing him to laugh and grunt simultaneously. Samantha made a dash for the truck, ignoring the gravel grazing her skin as she dived for the tire iron, but Embry's wolf hooked her by the belt and snatched her back out as her hand closed around the metal. She got in one more solid smack with it before she was hoisted up on her feet and slammed backwards into the truck, panting as the wolf smirked and picked her up, hauling her to eye level and slanting his mouth over hers.

The kiss was soft, Embry's kiss, even though the wolf was still laughing.

"He tries to coddle you and cuddle you, when you are much happier fighting," the wolf murmured, biting her neck _hard_. "How does he not know our mate at _all_? I'll let you hit me again, if you want, but this time I'll make you work for it," he promised.

"Fuck you," Samantha gasped, but then she was on her feet, trying to keep her balance as Embry's wolf snapped her away from the truck and rounded on her.

"If that will help, then gladly, mate," the wolf offered with a grin that just barely showed his teeth, and he bent down and tossed her the tire iron again. She caught it out of the air and crouched, ready. Jake was blowing through her mind like a hurricane, but she didn't give a damn about the Alpha. Embry was the only thing she gave a shit about anymore.

"I'm not your mate," Samantha snarled, "Where's Embry and why the hell do you keep doing this?"

"Actually, we're _your_ mate," the wolf hummed, his eyes following her as she adjusted her stance. "You chose us, Alpha, and we agreed. He makes it difficult, he would rather lick your ears then run by your side, but I'm working on it. We're getting stronger."

"I'm not the damn Alpha," Samantha hissed, but Embry's wolf tilted his head to the side. "And why do you keep blocking out Embry?"

"The Alpha pair always has the choice, and you chose us," he told her softly, as if confused. "We agreed, gladly, but he makes no sense. He'll let the Alpha male have you, but you want us, so I'll fight for you. And when you're angry, I'll fight you for you, too. See? We are a good mate."

"Where the hell is Embry?" Samantha screamed, "Give him back!" The wolf's expression saddened.

"If that's what you want, mate," he whispered. "Please don't allow them to kill us." Samantha watched the black drip from Embry's eyes, and then Embry blinked. He blinked again and looked around, confused. But when he saw Samantha crouched several feet away, covered in road rash and trembling from the adrenaline, a weapon clenched in front of her, Embry's tanned skin went pure white.

"Oh my god, what did I do?" Embry whispered, looking horrified as he dropped to his knees next to the truck. Then his eyes darted past Samantha, and she turned. The Pack was coming from the woods, the Alpha in the front by several hundred feet and headed directly for her.

It wasn't really her fault. Jake looked ready to kill someone and that someone would be Embry. And if the wolf was right, then Samantha's whole world was about to die. So when Jake grabbed her to pull her behind him, once again Samantha didn't hold back. At least Embry's wolf had somewhat expected it when she had attacked him, however it simply never occurred to Jake that his imprint would do a double handed swing with a metal weapon across the bridge of his nose.

"Fuck!" Jake snarled, jerking back as a trickle of blood dripped from his nostril, but Samantha was swinging again, and Jake grabbed her arm. He pulled the tire iron upwards, but she had a good hold and as he lifted her up, Jake only earned himself a heel in the throat. He cursed and let her drop, and Samantha stumbled sideways, backing up and placing herself directly between Embry and the Alpha, weapon ready.

The Pack was staring at her in shock. She attacked the Alpha. Humans just didn't _do_ that.

"Don't you dare touch him," Samantha snarled, so angry that her lips were curled back from her teeth as she crouched down again. "Don't you fucking _dare_."

"Embry, what the hell happened?" Seth barked, and Embry made a devastated noise. The Pack was slowly closing in around them and Samantha sidestepped, trying to keep herself between Embry and them. It wasn't working and she tightened her grip on her tire iron.

"I don't remember. I don't remember anything," Embry whispered, "Oh god, sweetheart, you're bleeding. I hurt you, didn't I? After everything today, _I hurt you_." If there was something worse that he could do, it was obvious Embry didn't know it. His voice was filled with horrified self-disgust as he snarled at his Pack, "Guys..._get her away from me_."

"Shut up, Embry," Samantha whispered, "You don't know what happened. Nothing actually happened."

"It's pretty clear what _almost_ happened, Sims," Paul said in a hard voice, flanking her with a resolute expression in his eyes. Paul. Paul was the biggest risk after Jake. He might be the biggest risk completely, because Jake was imprinted on her and Seth cared more than he should about her. She'd use that against both of them, but she had nothing she could use against Paul. The only thing Paul gave a damn about was his imprint, and Cassie was really lucky she wasn't within arm's reach right now, because Samantha would do anything to protect Embry. _Anything_.

"Touch me, touch _him_ and I swear to god you assholes better kill me this time," Samantha warned harshly, backing up another step closer to Embry. "Back them off us, Jake."

"Samantha, what happened?" Jake demanded taking a step forward and she let out a cry, jumping forward and making another swing at him. Jake backed off again, looking surprised and uncertain. "Samantha, what the hell is going on?"

"Back them OFF, Jake! Or me and you, we do this shit now!" Samantha snarled. "You'll have to kill me, because I'll blow this whole fucking town's secrets out of the goddamn water. And if you step one step closer, Paul, I'll find the Saskatchewan Pack and feed Cassie to them part by part!" Paul let out a snarl at that but stopped moving, and Samantha was glad that Embry chose to share as much with her as he did. Otherwise she wouldn't know the truth about Jake's Pack, how dangerous they really were, the risk they really posed to Embry if they thought he was unable to be saved. Maybe the wolf was right, maybe they would kill him.

Over her dead body, Samantha decided, trembling from adrenaline and anger.

"Bring it, assholes," she hissed, "Or back the hell off!"

"Honey, calm down," Embry was trying, but his voice was shaking badly, he was so upset.

"_BACK THEM OFF, JACOB BLACK_!"

"Do it," Jake said softly, and the huge figures that were flanking Samantha and Embry backed up, giving Samantha more room. Jake however didn't move. "Embry, did your wolf take over again?"

"I think so, Jake. She…she wasn't like this, there wasn't a scratch on her. We were driving and flirting and…and I just don't know. Oh hell, I don't _remember_…"

"Samantha." Jake looked at his imprint, holding her furious gaze. His eyes were narrowed suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"Jake she didn't-"

"**Shut up**, **Embry**," Jake growled, the power of his voice rolling over Samantha. She hated it. She hated the Alpha being able to do that to Embry, to her too, so she narrowed her eyes even further.

"You don't own me, Jacob Black," Samantha whispered. "You don't owe Embry either. He's a person, and if anyone owns him, I do. He's mine, and I won't let you hurt him!"

"No one wants to hurt Embry, Samantha," Seth said quietly. "But we also won't let him hurt you. We need you to back off Embry, honey, because he's closer to you than we are. He could reach you before we could."

She deliberately took a step back, closer to Embry, and Embry growled at that even though he was being very careful to stay still. If they thought he was going to move at her, this was going to get bad, fast. Even Samantha knew that the Alpha's body posture was telling Embry to keep his ass in one spot. "Sims, they won't hurt me, sweetheart, you need to calm down."

"Yes, they will," Samantha hissed, but her voice wobbled, because Seth had stepped in front of Jake, Leah at his side. Seth gave her a soft smile and dropped down to his haunches a few paces in front of her.

"Believe it or not, bunny lop, we love Embry just as much as you do," Seth told her in a soothing voice, and Leah tilted her head.

"The only danger he's in is if we think he'll attack you again," Leah said in a no-nonsense tone, "So besides being a raging bitch, you're kind of being pretty stupid right now, chica. Do you even realize you're covered in blood and that half your clothes are torn? Or that there's fifty feet of skid marks off the highway? We're not the bad guys here. The bad guy is the first one wolf you felt you had to beat away with a tire iron. If Embry attacked you, he could attack someone else. This is a Pack problem and you're in the way."

"Sweetheart, if I'm sick-" Embry started and Sims let out a strangled snarl, staring at the Pack around her.

"_I hate you_," she told them all in a cold, furious voice. "I hate _every one_ of you. I hate what you do and I hate what you represent. I hate that you can do whatever the hell you want to Embry, and I hate you the most, Jacob Black! And I'm not stupid. You killed a whole Pack without ever trying to save them, and I swear to god that if you do that to Embry, I'm gonna take at least one of you out with me. You better kill me, and I promise you, it'll hurt you assholes more in the end than it will ever hurt me. So either we do this, or you all leave. _Now_!"

"Sweetheart, you're wrong," Embry was whispering, "You're wrong about them." His instincts to comfort her made him shift towards her, and the entire Pack took a step forward. Samantha let out an angry cry, but she didn't know what to do. There were too many. Like always, they were too many and she was too few.

Yeah, well fuck 'em all.

The wolf and the imprint were connected. The imprint and the Alpha were connected. She had two holds on Jake, and if today was any kind of proof, then she could hurt him. If the Alpha was hurt, the Pack was hurt. If she was hurt, the Alpha would be hurt. It was stupid and reckless but they were about to take control of her again, they were about to break her, and that wasn't their choice. That was her own. But this was gonna kill, and she better do it fast. Only Embry knew her well enough to know what was coming when she dropped to her knees, slammed her left arm down on the blacktop, and he let out a half cry as Samantha became the first human in existence to actually physically hurt Jacob Black. Of course when the tire iron hit her arm, snapping it right in the middle of the bone, it hurt Samantha a whole lot more than it had ever hurt Jake.

But she had to see, Samantha had to know what kind of damage she could do to the Alpha.

Jake let out a strangled noise when she broke her own arm, a shudder rolling through his body, but despite the pain, this time Samantha didn't cry. Instead she stared the Alpha in the eyes and slowly rose. She took a step forward, her broken left arm limp at her side and her right still gripping the tire iron. When the Pack shifted to help, Brady and Collin looking horrified, Jake snarled something in Quileute that dropped them all, Leah included, to their knees.

It was obvious the Pack didn't understand her actions. Seth's eyes were taking it in, his face flickering with emotion as he glanced back and forth between Samantha and Jake, trying to work this out. Leah had cursed when she heard the bone snap, but she was glaring at Embry as if the male wolf had done it himself. Embry was going nuts, completely panicked by her actions, but he too was held down by Jake's command. Samantha was pretty sure that Jake and her were the only ones that knew what was going on. To everyone else, she just looked insane.

Samantha watched Jake struggle with it. A broken arm hurt, but Jake looked agonized. Maybe it was imprint hurt that bothered the wolves so much, because Jake was staring at the tire iron as if it was a snake that he was going to kill.

"You and me Alpha," Samantha whispered. "You want Embry, you fight me for him. As you can see, I don't have much left to lose." She twirled the tire iron in her right hand and dropped down into another crouch. The pain left everything in stark contrast, and she could see that Jake's left arm was shaking. It was then Samantha knew that no matter what, she had the trump card here. Just as long as she was willing to pay the price of using it.

"You wouldn't be fighting this hard if it hadn't have been bad," Jake said quietly, even though his brown eyes were flashing.

"I'm fighting this hard because I don't trust this Pack further than I can spit," she snarled. "I definitely don't trust you with Embry, especially when it's not his fault. I told him something that upset him and the wolf came out. That's not his fault."

"It shouldn't happen at all, Samantha," Jake told her, but Samantha didn't care. The pain in her arm had spread down her side, and Jake was still feeling it. He was trembling, and Samantha was tempted to break something else just to hurt him more.

"You're not taking him from me," Samantha whispered. "Remember this, Jacob Black. You touch him, and I'll take you down with him."

"Or I take him out now, stick you in a fucking shed for the next fifty years, and you stop being a problem, Samantha Carter," Jake growled back. Seth hissed but stayed in his place, and Jake stared at her for a very tense, very long minute.

"Samantha Carter, you're Pack," Jake finally said. "You don't have to like it but you do have to live it. And there aren't enough bones in your body that you can break to keep me from protecting you from Embry when he's out of control. So you tell me what happened and I'll do whatever I can to fix it, and you get away from Embry. _**Now, Samantha**_."

The Alpha voice rolled over her, not a firm tug like at the party yesterday. This was Jake flexing his muscles against hers, and unfortunately his were bigger. Samantha had no choice. She had to move. But at least she did it with style, launching herself at Jake, and having to be dragged off into the woods by Seth and Leah, kicking and screaming and fighting. She never would tell them what happened, because she knew Jake's Pack. She knew that she couldn't trust them, not with Embry, not with her either. Embry didn't remember anything, not the talk about her mother's disease, not anything after that. Just like the first time, the wolf had reset him, leaving him where he was most comfortable, although furious and worried sick about her. Acute stress disorder, Embry told them with deep concern. Someone needed to watch out for her. So they did.

They took her tire iron away, she was doing a little too much damage with that. They took her freedom away, because if Seth hadn't hogged tied her and hauled her off to have Carlisle reset the bone, she would never have left Embry's side. But worse than anything, they took Embry away. After all, she was the Alpha's imprint, even if no one knew, and the Alpha would protect her. He had to. Obviously she was a little nuts, and didn't seem to understand that Embry was the one she needed protection from, not them. Samantha disagreed, but no one listened, telling her that she could see Embry when he was better, if he got better. No matter how she fought, how she threatened, they still took Embry away from Samantha, just when she needed him the most, just because they could. Because the strong always broke the weak, that was just the way it was.

And just to make sure she behaved, they gave her to Paul.

Damn, Samantha hated this Pack.


	15. Chapter 13

A/N You know, it's kind of funny. Half of you guys absolutely **loved** the last chapter, or at least the Sims part. And half of you guys **hated** it, especially the Sims part. So was it a good chapter? Lol. Who the hell knows? But if you hate Sims, you might want to drop the series because she'll be in it the whole way through, and harsh reviews won't change that. Thanks to my reviewers from last chapter: _pinkshirt, Miss Bear, InsanelyxLoud, SARAH DB, LightIsPrecious, lilcutieissa, Buffyk0604, Manna 1, LexaBrooke, alwaysxlove, dixonmichiah, MadToTheBone1, sarahneedsahobby, EnglishVoice, Ashes-Of-Grey, Negrinha, TeffieS, makeupmakelove, Jacobleah, hilja, LadyMonday, mcc3654, KerryH, toalli, moani-sama, LucyPenny, The bunny always dies first, Digi-Girl101, esotericdesideratum, twiceasbold, sisicloud, cyclobaby, laurazuleta18, beccamalfoy13x, ally leigh, garlauri, _and_ Lunar Fire_. (If you have a period in your name, the site drops it, so I have to write it as close as possible. ) And onwards with the story we go. We're about halfway through now, maybe a little more.

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Thirteen

The beatings of drums filled Embry's ears, rising above the sounds of the storm passing overhead.

He stood at the top of the cliffs, face raised to the sky as the heavily pounding rainwater burned his eyes, filled his nostrils, soaked his naked skin. He stood as his brothers had stood, listening to the voices of the ancestors, listening to their cries. Listening to their demands, telling him to leave this land, to take his sickness and to flee in shame. The balance was no longer his, and it would only get worse. Flee and spare the Pack, flee and eliminate the suffering. Flee, or be driven out as his brothers had been.

Move or be moved.

Embry closed his eyes and grimaced, lifting his arms to the pounding heavens as they echoed the beating of drums. It would take more than ghosts to drive this son away, it would take more than fear to send this one to ground. No, Embry had the blood of Taha Aki in his veins, was brother to the Alpha, and he was strong. Even when he was weak, he was strong, and this time he would be stronger than anyone could ever know.

The wolf and he were no longer one. Well then, Embry would _make_ them one, even if it killed him. His fear was gone, tinted crimson by the blood of his woman and washed away by the storm that buffeted him, that threatened to push him, to pull him, to drive him from these cliffs. But he was strong, and this time he was not afraid. He was Embry Call, Embry Black, Embry eight generations the son of the True Alpha, and this time _he would not be moved_. Allowing his eyes to drip into darkness, Embry called his wolf, called it to terms for the damage that it had done, called it to fight this out for the final time.

The Alpha watched, eyes glittering in the night.

* * *

Paul gave his Alpha's imprint a full day to compose herself before he went to talk to her.

Sims was sitting out on the front porch, a prisoner in a prison of Paul and Jake's making, at least in her own mind. Paul wasn't keeping her prisoner in truth, but right now telling Sims anything was like speaking to a wall. She was angry and bullheaded and frightened, and reasoning with her when she was like this was flat out impossible, especially considering the painkillers Carlisle had needed to give her when resetting her arm. She had done a number on it, and in her struggles to get back to Embry, she had only hurt it worse. So yeah, Leah had finally grown pissed and tied Sims up, but it had been because her damn arm was broken and Leah was scared Sims was going to half cripple herself before she came to her senses.

Still, they had to give Sims credit. When that girl was fighting for something, she fought _hard_.

The Pack wasn't stupid. Sims hadn't been fighting with _them_ over Embry, she had been fighting with Jake, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the Pack even being there. There had been about fifteen different times where Paul alone could have snatched Sims away from Embry with only minimal risk of Embry getting to her first, and Paul knew that Seth himself could have doubled that. But Sims was squaring off with Jake, and for some inexplicable reason that had made them hesitate. Paul wasn't used to hesitating in any situation, and he also wasn't used to the threats of a human girl making him pause. Whatever was really going on was more than just that Embry's wolf got loose, and it was more than Sims not trusting them. It was about an imprint battling for dominance against the Alpha, it was about the two most dominant people in this Pack going head to head to see who would back down.

It was a power struggle, plain and simple, and it just took Paul awhile to figure that out.

Paul had been looking directly at Jake when Sims broke her arm, and it was the closest he had seen to the Alpha snapping since Jake was freshly phased. And Jake never, _never_ flattened them to the ground like he did in that moment, instinctively catering to Sims in an attempt to calm her down. If it had been Cassie or Kim with the tire iron, the Alpha would have just growled and taken it away from them. But it was Sims, and the threat to herself was more dangerous simply because Sims as a whole was more dangerous, had trained her whole life to be more dangerous, and it made Jake hesitate as well. The whole Pack had been shoved sideways while Jake and Sims decided this for them. While Jake decided how to handle his _imprint_.

Bent beneath his Alpha's will, his nose practically in the dirt, the Third had finally realized why this girl twisted them up and confused them so badly. She was Pack and had been before she even was imprinted on, she had been from the moment her feet first stepped onto Quileute soil. And not only was she Pack, Sims was so dominant that she was the _Alpha's_ imprint, his equal, and she had rejected him before the imprint had ever taken hold. Sims had chosen another, disrupted their Pack, disturbed Embry's place in their ranks just in choosing him. The Third knew this, but he wasn't sure how he knew this.

The wolf felt that perhaps Paul would understand more if he simply allowed himself to be the Third, as opposed to being just Paul. Alphas were allowed to choose their own mates, as per their right. The wolf wasn't sure why their Alpha female would choose a sickened wolf as her mate, it was forcing her to work much harder than necessary, but it wasn't their place to comment. She was Alpha, and they were not. Paul thought a little warning might have been nice, but the wolf was growing bored and yawned, curling up in a ball and resting his muzzle on his hip.

Good talk.

And then Seth and Leah had snatched up Sims, and Jake had snatched up Embry, dragging both in different directions, leaving Paul with a Pack of completely off balance wolves wondering just what the hell had just happened. Paul didn't know who had figured out what, but until he talked to Jake about it, they would all be keeping their mouths and their minds shut. When he had spoken that order to them, Paul had made it stick, and then he had assigned them all doubled patrols, telling them for no one to bother any of the top three for anything short of a crisis and to keep their distance from Sims. Sometimes the best way to deal with confusion was to give the Pack something to focus on, and Paul didn't want a damn rock to move right now right one of them knowing it.

Paul had followed Seth to the Cullen's because Jake wanted Paul to take care of Sims and Seth to get to Jake and Embry as soon as he could. Paul was halfway to the treaty line when he realized that Jake hadn't ever directly spoken the order to him, even though the order had been given. It was disconcerting, but even more so was the fact that Jake and Seth were talking, arguing angrily actually, even though on separate ends of the reservation, and Paul knew that too. He tried not to listen, and when a patched up, drugged up, and now softly crying Sims had finally stopped fighting, Paul had untied her and taken her away from the Clearwater's. Leah had been difficult about that but Paul had ignored her and gone about his job.

After all, Paul might not understand why Jake had hidden the most important thing to happen in the Pack since the changing of the Alpha status between Jake and Sam, but Paul was the third and he did what he was told.

Maybe if Sims hadn't been crying, Paul would have initially taken her to her home and let her be, and he would have patrolled outside until someone else told him better what to do. But Sims was his Alpha's imprint, Alpha herself even though it was only starting to sink in, and abandoning her to being miserable and alone was just not going to happen. A wounded animal would crawl away and hide until it either recovered from its wounds or died, but they weren't animals, not completely. They were human too, and even if Embry's illness was triggering a series of protective instincts in Sims that she was unable to recognize or even understand, she was still a kid and she could only handle so much. Acute stress disorder. Yeah that sounded pretty right.

Paul gave her a full day to compose herself, even though Sims had done little more than sit on the corner of his front porch, her eyes hard as she stared off into the distance. She had stopped trying to bolt for the forest where Paul had said Jake and Seth were with Embry, but she had never made it to the wood line before a watchful Paul had brought her back. Paul had told her the reason why was only because the patrol had caught a scent of a leech near the border, but Sims's expression had made it clear that she didn't believe him. She hated them, remember? And she didn't trust him. She didn't trust any of them except the one wolf that no human should be alone around right now anyway.

Maybe if Cassie had been there still, she could have had luck with talking to Sims, but Paul just wasn't getting anywhere. Was she hungry? No. Did she want more painkillers? No. Did she want to sleep in the bed, instead of balled up against the porch railing? No. Would she at least come inside, so she wasn't cold? It was storming out there, and even with the porch roof, she was still getting wet. Was Embry somewhere out there in that? Yes. Then no.

Samantha Carter was amazingly bullheaded when she put her mind to something. If the situation hadn't been so fucked up, the irony of that might have amused the hell out of Paul.

The storm had died down to a soft drizzle when Paul wandered outside late the following morning, two cups of coffee and a small plate in his hands. Sims was looking a little worse for the wear, her tanned skin paler than normal, and her eyelids were puffy and reddened. Paul settled down on the porch facing her, scooting the still folded and unused blanket he had handed her the night before off to the side. He leaned over and placed a cup of coffee and the plate next to her hip, the fourth peanut butter sandwich he had tried to get her to eat, and then he flipped open his phone, making a call. She ignored him completely.

"Jake? Could you put Embry on?" Paul asked his Alpha. Sims's head snapped up and so he added for her benefit, "Because she hasn't eaten or drank anything in a day, and I think she's convinced you're killing him. I don't know, she won't say shit to me, so short of letting her wander around the woods aimlessly and alone while a leech might be nearby, I don't know what she wants. I'm kind of hoping that talking to Emb will convince her that passing out from pain and hunger isn't hurting you enough to be worth it."

There was silence on the other end, followed by a soft snort. "You know, you're kind of a dick, Paul," Jake murmured, before handing the phone to Embry.

"Paul? Is she okay?" Embry's voice sounded raw, a second wounded animal, a little less human than the girl next to Paul but a better man than nearly any Paul had ever known. Seth had told Paul earlier that Embry was fighting to contain his wolf without the Alpha's hold, but that he could only do it for a few minutes at a time. That wasn't good, and Seth said the toll it was taking on Embry's body was enormous. Maybe talking to Sims would help, remind him he had a reason to fight through this.

"Tell her to eat something, Emb," Paul said flatly. "And tell her to do it again in a couple hours, she's making herself sick."

Without waiting for an answer, Paul handed over the phone to Sims and stood up. He jogged over to the tree line, still keeping Sims in sight and humming loudly enough to himself that her soft words were mostly lost beneath his own voice. Paul caught a little here and there, more as his curiosity got the better of him. No, she was worried about _him_…Her arm was fine…She thought this was bullshit that she was a prisoner…That's what Paul had said, but she thought he was full of shit…it didn't matter, it would heal…it would _heal_, Embry, and she was…no…yeah, she knew…two months…it didn't _matter_, it would _heal_…she didn't know that, he'd never told her about the competition…she'd pay him back the entry fee…she was sorry…no, none of this was his fault…Embry…Embry, please…baby, it was okay…she'd eat the sandwich…yeah, she'd try...Embry? Please don't…

A softly hitched breath, if that was what he needed…

A tremble in her voice, she loved him too.

Paul was tempted to give her several minutes, but that would mean she would realize he had heard her conversation, and there was more illusion of privacy if he returned when she closed the phone. Still, Paul walked slowly back to the cabin, his hands stuffed in his pockets. By the time he had reached her, Sims's wet cheeks had been wiped off and she was slowly eating the peanut butter sandwich, but she didn't look any better. In fact she looked worse, like a balloon with a tiny hole, the air inside leaking out and leaving her sagging beneath her own weight.

Poor kid. It didn't have to be like this, but somewhere along the line everything had gotten messed up between the Pack and her. She probably wouldn't be able to recognize Pack comfort if it smacked her in the face. Well, maybe that was what Jake had wanted, for Paul to help her figure it out. Because like it or not, Sims was in. Really in, whether she wanted to be or not. Paul settled down next to his Alpha's imprint, so close their hips were almost touching, and Paul picked his cooled cup of coffee up off the porch. He took a sip, watching the drizzle lighten to a mist that rose off the ground, deepening the green all around them. He pressed the cup to his lips a second time.

"I spit in that."

He paused before sipping and glanced over at Sims. She had peeled the rounded part of the crust off the top of her sandwich and was twisting the two crusts together in a little rope with the fingers of her uninjured hand. She very carefully tied it in a knot and then slowly ate the crust. "When you were walking away pretending not to be listening in, I spit in your cup."

"Information that might have been better a drink ago," Paul grimaced and set his cup back down, sliding it closer to her and taking the second mug. He took a sip and then frowned when there was just a touch of a twitch of her lower lip. "You spit in this one too, huh?" he sighed and Sims de-crusted the right side of her sandwich, repeating the twisting and tying process.

"I felt guilty," she admitted, scrunching her mouth as if the words tasted bad.

"Pack does that to us," Paul acknowledged, gritting his teeth and continuing on with his less than pristine drink. Sims's head shot up and Paul quirked an eyebrow at her. "If you were trying to keep it a secret, you did a horrible job. And for future reference, Jacob doesn't have a dishonest bone in his body. He'll bully you until you break and do things his way, he'll ruthlessly work your emotions against you to get what he needs out of you, but he's completely honest about the fact he's doing it. He couldn't hide a crayon in a crayon box."

"Isn't being sneaky a wolf thing?" Sims asked harshly, looking away and shredding bread beneath her fingers. "Shouldn't he be the best at it? Keeping it a secret was his idea in the first place."

"Jake doesn't need to be sneaky, he'll just take your coffee and punch you in the face instead of spitting in it."

"Then why-?"

"He's the Alpha," Paul shrugged. "Ask him. Maybe he thought it was best, maybe it _would_ have been best, but things change. Welcome to the Pack, Samantha, where you never know what's coming next. And no, I don't know if everyone knows. If they don't, they at least suspect it, but as long as Jake isn't talking about it then they won't either."

"Everyone except for you," she pointed out and Paul took another sip of coffee.

"I have the honor of waiting out this particular temper tantrum," Paul said solemnly, seeing if she would rise to the bait when he added, "Being as high up in the Pack as you are gives you special temper tantrum rights. I can grab some plates for you to throw if you want, that always makes Cass feel better."

Sims stiffened angrily, her eyes flashing, but she didn't seem to have much to say to that and instead she continued to shred her sandwich. Hmmm, pissing her off didn't get her talking. Paul smirked a little as he sat silently next to her, and when Sims had destroyed her sandwich, he calmly rose and went inside to get the bag of bread and jar of peanut butter. He brought them back out and settled down again. Paul had finished his fourth sandwich and was working on his fifth when Sims spoke again.

"I'm not Pack, Paul," she said finally. "I don't care if I'm a real imprint or not. I don't care if the Alpha looked at me and sprouted daisies out of his ass, I'm not a part of this little bullshit cult. And if you guys hurt Embry-"

"You'll out us and off yourself to kill the Alpha. Yeah, kid, we got that part," Paul told her between chews, his voice bored. She narrowed her eyes at him and Paul shrugged. "What? It's a stupid threat, Sims. And you sound stupid saying it. We won't hurt Embry, I'm not sure where you got that shit in your head, but Embry is Pack. We don't turn on our own. Well, _you_ do, but we'll work on that part when the temper tantrum is done."

"My _own_ consists of Dad and Embry," Sims said in a growl. "The rest of you are assholes. I don't want anything to do with any of you, and Seth's the biggest asshole of you all for taking me away from Embry yesterday."

Paul smiled at her slightly. "Seth's out again? That means he's winning. He's trying to steal you into the Clearwater clan, Sims, he always wanted a little sister. Leah picked on him too much for Seth to get to play a big brother role, and if you're mad at Seth, it means he matters enough to you to cause anger. He's gonna get you, Sims, watch out. Seth's the real sneaky one of this Pack."

"You're making fun of me," she told him harshly, looking away.

"No, I'm telling you the truth," Paul swallowed and smirked at her. "But then again, I'm not very sneaky. Want a sandwich?"

"No."

"You promised Embry you'd eat," Paul rumbled, nudging the peanut butter her way.

"Embry also broke up with me a few minutes ago, so I'm not caring too much," Sims said in a voice that was supposed to be cold, but it broke a little at the end. Paul went still at that, and then he cursed softly.

"Emb can be such a dumbass," Paul shook his head in annoyance and stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth. "And I doubt he broke up with you, that guy's retarded over you, so he probably just said it wrong. What did he say?"

"It doesn't matter." She began stacking her sandwich parts, focusing on them with enough intent that he almost missed her lip quivering ever so slightly.

Paul sighed and leaned back, kicking a foot up on the porch railing. When would these stupid pups learn? "Let me guess. He wants space. He needs to work out his own shit. He loves you but he needs to figure himself out first."

"Translation, it got too hard and I'm out," Sims said in a hurt little voice and Paul shook his head.

"Maybe if we were normal guys," he agreed. "Then yeah, pretty much, but in Embry's case he means it."

"We're supposed to fix things together, that's how it's supposed to work," she insisted, and Paul looked over at her as her lip quivered again. "He promised me he wouldn't push me away like this again, but I guess he kept his promise. He walked away instead. So I'm just the crazy ex-girlfriend, stuck with the wolf who doesn't give a shit. How much they paying you to babysit me Paul? Minimum wage, or are you pulling time and a half for overtime?"

He almost told Sims exactly what he thought about her and about that statement and about how goddamn stupid she was being. Instead Paul held her hand.

The cast on her arm was black, the color of the fine hairs along the curve of his forearm was the same as he slid the length of his arm beneath hers, supporting her cast as he entwined their fingers. Sims looked at him as if he was insane, but Paul just sighed again. "You ever have a man in your life, Samantha?" Paul asked softly, squeezing her fingers lightly. "A real one?"

"What are you talking about, Paul?"

Her eyes were a little wild, and he shifted away slightly so she didn't misconstrue the question. He clarified, "Did your mama ever have a man around other than your dad when you were a baby?"

Sims was silent for a moment, but then she shook her head. "Not anyone for very long. It was hard for her to have relationships that lasted any period of time. Why?"

Paul pursed his lips. "No one else? A teacher or a sensei at your dojos? No one?"

"I studied under several senseis, the local YMCA wasn't good at keeping anyone around for long," she admitted. "As for men, there's been Embry and my dad, and that's about all."

It was a hard concept, what Paul was trying to say, so he thought about it for a while before speaking again. "I'm a man, Sims, and I'd like to think I'm a good one. I get up and go to work even when I'd rather not. I pay my bills, and when I can't pay my bills, I work even harder so I can. I don't try and take more than I deserve and I don't keep what I need to share. I've got a girl, a good one, one who I treat as best as I know how, and I'm not gonna let anyone else treat her bad either. When I kiss her, I don't bruise her, and even though I could punch through a concrete wall without trying, I can still hold her hand without hurting her. I'm not gonna let her go hungry, or let her be scared, or let her be unhappy, not if there's anything I can do about it."

"Embry's a good man," Sims whispered loyally, looking down at their hands, and Paul rubbed the side of his thumb down hers.

"Which is why Embry's not here right now, Sims," Paul said simply. "Because like me, he works hard and he pays his bills and he treats his girl the best he can. And like me, he can punch through a concrete wall without trying. Do you know how hard it is to be like us and not even _accidentally_ hurt a normal human? A hug, a touch, a kiss…ever tried to make out with a girl and made her pass out because you forgot she needed air more often than you did? Ever hug your grandmother and accidentally crack one of her ribs? Do you realize that just in having sex with you, Embry has to watch absolutely everything he does every single moment? Hell, I don't even know _how_ to sleep with Cass. She's so little, I could _seriously_ injure her just by gripping her too hard. My hands span completely around her waist, and if I could punch through concrete, what do you think I could do to her?"

She blinked at that and Paul gave her a serious look.

"It would kill me," Paul admitted, grimacing at the thought alone. "If I hurt her, it would kill me. And I'd want my Pack to pull me out in the street and put me down like a fucking rabid dog, even if it was just an accident. We _have_ to be in complete control of ourselves all the time. Mauling Emily broke Sam, he'll never get over it, and we don't know how close Embry might have come to doing that with you. The scary part for him is that Embry doesn't even know, and you proved yesterday that you won't tell him. Hell, we don't know how often it's been going on, maybe for months and you're just not saying anything. You don't trust us, but Sims, no one can trust you either."

Silence. Sims was good at that.

"When we got there yesterday, it looked like a warzone," Paul told her. "You looked…shit, I can't even explain it. And if it was a war, you were the one going down, but you were hell bent on going down fighting. Whether you want to admit it or not, there is something inside Embry that made that happen, and the only person who doesn't seem to realize this is you. Embry's a good man, and he won't put you, or anyone else, in a position where he could hurt you. This isn't about you and him working things out together, this isn't about Embry working things out with the Pack's support. This is only about _Embry_ now, trying to figure out how to get back to being the man he used to be, the man he needs to be. And he's got to do that alone."

"Without me," Sims said in a small voice, and Paul gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Without any of us, kid. But as much as that sucks, you gotta keep in mind that Emb's got the hard road right now, not us, not even you. He didn't break up with you, Sims. If I know Embry, he asked for a chance to be a good man again, without having to hide behind you and your reticence or your lies. If he can't trust you to tell him what he needs to know to help himself, than he has to pull you out of the equation. He won't hold that against you, but he'll still do it for your benefit. And you get to hang out with me, not because Jake's keeping you prisoner, but because Embry needs to concentrate on himself and healing right now. If you want to run again, go for it. But I'm making Emb go hunt you down this time. Of course, if you'd bothered to ask, I probably could have worked something out with you seeing him anyways, I was just seeing if you really are blind enough to think we'd keep you here just out of cruelty. Obviously you do."

Sims went stiff, but didn't pull away when he squeezed her fingers again.

"My wolf's not me, and Embry's wolf's not him, and we _know_ this," Paul reassured her. "We don't blame him for what's happening, we just haven't figured out how to help him yet. But in the meantime, Embry's not going to let you, the girl he loves, get caught in the crossfire. Not when he can help it, not when getting you away from him for a while will keep you safer. Jake's not out there hurting Embry, he's trying to help Emb. And I'm not here babysitting you, Sims, I'm trying to help you too. I'm trying to help you understand us, because we sure don't understand you. We don't understand why you think we would do the things you're accusing us of. We scared you with the phasing, but Sims…you're accusing us of contemplating the murder of someone we care about more than anything."

She was quiet, so very quiet, but that lip was trembling a little again and her face was drawn. Paul rolled around so that he was on his knees in front of her. "Samantha Carter, whether I agree with you and the choices you've made so far doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that you're Pack, that you're important, and that we figure out a way to understand each other. Because if I have to choose between my brother and my Alpha's imprint, I'll pick you. Every time. If you won't help me understand, I'll have to make my best guess, and my best guess yesterday was that fucker was halfway to…_mating_ with you whether you were the Alpha's imprint or not. Maybe because of it."

Sims jerked in surprise, wincing when that hurt her arm. "What? No! No, he wasn't doing that. He was…" she trailed off, trying to cover her confusion with an angry glare, which faded when Paul took her hand again. She jerked it away, but he only took it back a third time. "What are you doing?" Her voice softened as she added, "Why does you holding my hand change how I'm feeling?"

"Because you're Pack, Sims," Paul said quietly. "And I'm one of the strongest wolves in your Pack, stronger than even Embry. I'm a comfort to you, or I could be if you'd let me be. Why do you think Seth has been on your heels since you met? You needed him whether you realized it or not, so he's been there for you, ready to catch you if you fall. Pack is the net under the tightrope we all walk, but you just keep aiming for the side, not giving us a chance to catch you if you fall."

"You're treated me like an outsider, Paul!" Sims finally cried, pulling her hand away again. "You guys have never made me feel welcome, you have _always_ made me feel like being with Embry was bad for him. Like I was a horrible person because of it but no one bothered to explain to me _why_, you just all treated me like shit! How the hell was I supposed to know what would happen? How was I ever supposed to know _anything_ when you all kept me in the dark? All I ever knew was that he loved me and that you guys hated me. I could ignore the second but no one ever gave me a good reason why I should ignore the first."

"No one hated you, Sims, at least not really. But when you chose Embry, you disrupted the entire Pack," Paul told her simply. "It wasn't your fault, because no one understood what was happening at the time. I do now, though, at least more than before. Your choices affected us and we reacted to them. We knew _something_ wasn't right, that was why we tried to make you phase. It seemed to fit, but obviously it didn't. But that still doesn't explain why you think we would hurt Embry. If Jake wanted the imprint kept quiet, to deny himself his own imprint relationship so that his brother would be happy, than why would he hurt Embry? Why the hell do you think we would do something like that? Sims, you're just not making sense."

She was quiet again, but so tense she was trembling, and the wolf roused itself slightly, blinking blue eyes at their Alpha's imprint.

"Samantha, _my_ wolf hugged Cassie and told her he loved her," Paul said softly, shifting closer instinctively. "What does _Embry's_ wolf do?" No answer, but it was enough to clue him in. "Sims, what did it say to you? What did it do to set you off this far? I swear to you, no one's going to hurt Embry, but keeping this from us might be hurting him more. Sims, what really happened yesterday?"

"It asked me for protection," she whispered, staring off into the trees. "It said you would kill him and begged me to stop you."

It took him a moment to process that, but then Paul let out a snarled oath.

He had to get away from her before he broke something, so Paul was on his feet, hopping the railing and striding away from the cabin, utterly incensed. That…that _bastard_ sicced their Alpha's _imprint_ on them? Embry's wolf had the fucking audacity to put her in harm's way to protect itself? No wonder the girl was so fucked up. It was in her nature to protect what was hers and Emb's wolf used that against her. Paul was furious, and he wanted his Pack there, _now_. Sims looked horrified at his reaction, and she was scrambling after him as Paul slammed his fist into a nearby tree, splinters flying in every direction.

"Paul," Sims cried as she stumbled down the steps. "Paul, you can't hurt him! You promised-" Then her words died in her throat as the Pack began appearing out of the woods from all sides. They had heard his order, if not the words then the intent, and they had come. _All_ of them.

Sims looked at Embry and Jake, where they had stepped out of the wood line together, and she froze. It was etched across her face, the self-disgust she felt, as if she had betrayed Embry. Embry's expression said that he obviously didn't understand but he stayed at Jake's side, looking askance at Paul, who was striding over to Sims. She tried to back away, but he stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her, one around her waist, one across her chest, holding her still and holding her safe. This time she didn't fight it.

"Paul?" Jake asked in his deep rumbling voice, and it wasn't lost on Paul that Sims couldn't even hear Jake speak without flinching. "What's going on?"

"Embry, your wolf has been telling Samantha that we're going to kill you and that she has to protect you from us," Paul snarled, tightening his arms down. "That fucker deliberately set her against our whole Pack."

Embry closed his eyes, rocking back on his heels like someone had hit him, and then without a word he turned and disappeared back into the shadows of the woods. Somewhere in the darkness was the sound of something cracking, and Sims let out a sad noise but didn't try to follow. Instead she slumped against Paul, the balloon empty, unable to hold its shape any longer. That was fine, because she was Pack. Paul would hold her shape as long as he had to.

"Shit," Seth breathed, rubbing a hand over his face. "_Shit_. That makes so much more sense now."

"I can't believe you actually believed that, Samantha," Leah growled, looking annoyed, but Sims wasn't listening. Jake watched his imprint stare miserably off into the trees where Embry had disappeared, and then he walked over to Paul. Sims flinched again when Jake stepped within arm's length, but the huge man just squatted down to his heels in front of her. He was trying to appear as non-threatening as possible as he tilted his face up to her.

"I'm sorry, Samantha," Jake whispered softly, sounding sad, and it pulled Sims's eyes down to his. "I'll figure out how to fix this, okay? I'll make things better…just don't hurt yourself anymore. Don't hate them and don't hate me, not for things we couldn't control. Give us a chance to fix this, okay?"

There was another cracking noise, a tree falling in the forest. "Is he-?" she started to say and Jake shook his head.

"This whole thing scared the hell out of him before, but he's not scared now, Samantha. Embry's _pissed_. His wolf fucked with you, and now Emb's got the motivation he needs to fight it," Jake promised. "It was good you told us, but I can see why you wouldn't. I get it, and I don't think you're crazy, at least not as much, tire iron girl," he added with a touch of a smile.

"Embry always tries so hard to take care of me, is it so bad that I tried to protect him?" Sims asked, but she didn't sound angry anymore, just really confused.

"Protecting Embry is fine," Jake agreed, "But Emb and his wolf are completely separate at this point. You're protecting a stranger, Samantha, and maybe not a good one. But you're not a wolf and I can see how it would be easy to get confused at the difference. You've gotta start trusting us, okay? Maybe we haven't earned it before, but this is us earning it now."

Sims looked at Jake, and he pursed his lips, nodding his head, "Yeah, point made." Paul blinked at that, but Jake was talking again. "But you're his weakness and I need to keep you protected for a while. I need to keep you away from Embry's wolf. He can manipulate you, and it's safest for Embry if he doesn't have to risk us hurting him to protect you from it. But you're not a prisoner, Samantha, and I won't force you to stay here with Paul. The leech is gone, so it's safe again if you want to go home."

"How do I help him?" Sims asked softly, and Jake smiled at her, standing up. Paul kept his arms snug around her, not knowing if the contact to Pack was increasing her tractability, but Sims helping them was much better than her not. The girl had no clue that her admittance was going to send the Pack gunning for Embry's wolf, Embry included. Embry especially.

"Well for starters, you could try to stop attacking us," he murmured jokingly. "Maybe hang out, play Monopoly instead of beat the wolf with a tire iron. Just a suggestion. And maybe you could not get angry that I want to keep the Pack on you pretty tight for a while, because you working with us and not against us will help more than you realize."

"No promises on the tire iron part," Sims said, a tired smile touching her lips as she finally for the first time really looked at the Alpha. Jake stood beneath the scrutiny calmly, and then tilted his head to the side as she slipped from Paul's hold. Some of the defensiveness had left her body, although she looked worn and drawn, and Paul could see Jake reacting to that. The Alpha was shifting forward unconsciously, and this time Samantha didn't flinch away. Instead she turned worried eyes to Jake, and as the two locked gazes, Paul wondered if anyone else noticed that the rest of them didn't exist anymore. "Take care of him? Please? He means everything to me, Jacob Black."

"That might be the only thing I actually know about you, Samantha Carter," Jake smirked at her as he backed towards the woods the way Embry had gone, but Paul saw him cast a look Paul's way before he said, "Emb's gonna be fine, so just try not to destroy anything for a while, okay?"

Sims rolled her eyes at that, but as she wandered back towards the cabin with Collin at her heels telling her that he wouldn't recommend Monopoly because the rest of the Pack was too dumb to count, she looked just a touch less worried about Embry. Poor kid. Jake had been lying through his teeth to her and the Pack knew it. It was why Leah and Seth wouldn't look at Sims, why Sam and Jared were both watching where Jake disappeared to, and why Quil was hiding the fact that he was devastated. If Embry's wolf was aiming for the imprints in any way, they'd kill him where he stood without thinking twice, and Embry himself would stand there and let it happen. Sims could trust them with anything, but not the only thing she wanted.

It was a funny thing, trust.

* * *

Several hours later, the she-wolf ran, angling away from her home, driven to a frustrated fury and convinced that one of her Pack was going to die. Maybe even tonight. Leah ran, but she didn't know where and she didn't know why she took the direction she took. But when her paws hit southern Oregon, much further south than she had ever intended to run, she decided that maybe she ought to turn back.

It took her an hour to actually do it.

* * *

It was a commonly held opinion that Joseph Carter was the meanest son of a bitch on the Quileute reservation. In truth the meanest son of a bitch on the Quileute reservation was Bradley Jennings, Carter's sometimes friend and the owner of one of the many fishing tour boats that provided the town with much needed currency. Anyone who doubted the fact was welcome to ask Bradley Jennings Jr., Jennings's eldest son.

Brady had known his father's true nature since he was six.

Brady was only a month older than Collin, and the two boys had been friends ever since Brady had decided that the house two doors down seemed like a much nicer place to play than his did, and he and his little toddler legs had marched on over there. Brady had brought his kite, proudly made with construction paper and string, and Collin had grown tired of his GI Joe, one of ten anyways, and so they had traded. Collin's mother had found the dirty little boy happily playing with her son's toy and had promptly returned him to his house. She had never really said what she had seen that day, but every time afterwards that Brady made his way to Collin's yard, he had been welcome to play as long as he wanted.

Toddler Brady had really liked Collin's mother.

Toddler Collin had really liked toddler Brady, and over brownies and traded toys a friendship was cemented. Collin's house had become a sanctuary for Brady, and the best moments of his life growing up had happened there. It would have been easy to be jealous of Collin, after all Collin got the nice parents and the nice house and the nice things, but Collin was just so nice himself that it was impossible to dislike him for his good fortune. Instead Brady shared in each new excitement, each new dream, each new idea that was explored by the slightly spoiled Collin before being tucked away in his toy box and left forgotten. Plus Collin shared everything he had with Brady, even the expensive things that maybe he shouldn't have, because Collin had a best friend and that was what best friends did.

Collin was a good best friend. He shared his Sunny D's when Brady was thirsty and Collin usually remembered to let Brady play Mario sometimes instead of always Luigi. The night Brady's dad beat him so badly that Brady had crawled through Collin's window and hid the rest of the night in the closet, Collin and his army of GI Joes had kept watch outside the closet door, because that was what best friends did. Even when they took Brady away for a while, Collin stayed steadfast in his friendship, and even though Brady seemed less than happy coming back home a year later, Collin had been delighted. After all, his best friend was back, and that was how things should be.

When Collin was twelve, he had wanted to be a rock star, an appropriate dream and appropriately catered to by his supportive family by the purchase of an electric guitar. Watching Collin play, then give up after a week and never touch it again had been one of the only times that Brady could remember being jealous of Collin, and it was one of the only times that he had chosen to sleep up in the tree in Collin's backyard instead of inside Collin's house on the couch that had been reserved for him for years. Collin's father had found him up there, a worn GI Joe in his hand and angry tears in his eyes, and had wordlessly left something for Brady at the base of the tree. It was Collin's father's guitar, an old twelve string acoustic, worn but loved from a lifetime of playing.

It was the most important thing to ever happen to Brady, up until he phased, and even though he wasn't very welcome at Collin's anymore because Collin's parents felt Brady had led their son down a bad path, when a leech broke the border, it wasn't Brady's house that got protected first and foremost. Collin's father would probably never know that a moment of kindness had meant that Brady would die without hesitation to save Collin's life, or any of that family, but Brady never had been good with sharing his feelings.

He was good at playing that guitar, though.

Brady was young, one of the lowest in the ranking in the Pack, and it had been a bad deal when he had been left to guard the reservation alone. Being alone was a deep fear all of the Pack had, the instinct to be wrapped up in the safety of Pack was just too strong to ignore, and it was hardest on the pups. It had been the worst week of Brady's life, but he hadn't been alone in it because someone unexpected had stood at his side, and like a GI Joe army outside a closet door or a guitar at the base of a tree, it had affected him deeply. Brady's loyalty was hard earned, but once earned, it was strong. He had just never planned on feeling that way about his Alpha's imprint.

No one was talking about the fact that Jake had obviously imprinted on Samantha Carter, probably because Embry himself didn't know and he should be told first, but a girl dating the Pack's fifth and imprinted on by the Pack's Alpha had jumped so far out of Brady's league that it was almost ridiculous. But she looked so damn sad sitting there all alone on Paul's porch, even if surrounded by the different Pack members lounging about. It would have been easy to stay in the background like he and Collin always did when serious things happened and just let the others deal with it, but she had held his hand when he had been terrified, had fed him when he was exhausted and starving from running constant patrols, and had sat vigil over him while he slept what little he could. And up until Samantha had turned on Jake and declared her hatred for all of them, Brady had thought they were friends.

It had hurt him deeply when she had said she hated him. But then again it hurt Brady more than they hadn't been there for her when Emb turned wolf on her, and Brady thought both sides of this fight had some serious making up to do. So while Collin and Jared tried to joke around to ease past this awkwardness, Leah slipped away for reasons of her own, and Paul and Sam watched over everyone with serious gazes much too similar, Brady went and got his guitar. Brady had never played in front of any of them, Collin included, because his music was for him and him alone. But he placed himself between Samantha and the Pack, shielding her from their eyes and their opinions, shielding her from their guilt and their accusations, and the young man played for her.

And maybe they would never see eye to eye, her and them. Maybe there was no fixing things, not really, because in real life you don't get to say forgiven and forgotten and have it actually be that way. And maybe she was wrong and they were right. Or maybe she was right and they were so very wrong. But at some point a truce has to be reached, and Samantha Carter might not see anyone but Embry, and Leah, and Seth, but that day she heard Brady. And in hearing him, she saw him too, and whether Brady realized it or not, he tipped the scale for her.

Samantha didn't hate him. She didn't hate any of them, not really, not even Jake. She was just alone and young and confused and she didn't know what to do anymore. And maybe she didn't trust them as a whole but she trusted Brady, because he wasn't yelling at her or glaring at her or looking at her like she was weak. If there was one thing Samantha was, it was strong, and when his eyes rose briefly to hers before returning to the strings that calloused fingers were strumming gently, she knew that Brady knew that too. But it was still okay for him to be there at her side. It was okay for all of them to be there, and for her to be there too, even without Embry. Maybe they wouldn't all agree, but they weren't driving her away and she didn't have to push them away either. They were her Pack. Whatever the hell that really meant anyways.

Maybe she was wrong and the Alpha really could fix things.

Brady gave her a tiny little smile, and Samantha returned it. Then she leaned her head back and for the first time in days, she just breathed.

* * *

"Is he okay?" Seth asked softly from his place at his Alpha's side. Jake stood with his arms crossed, face expressionless as he watched his brother. Embry was seated once again at the edge of the cliffs, his legs folded beneath him his hands rested lightly on his knees. His body was held at ease, but his eyes…they were filled with utter fury. Black swirled with chocolate, and it was impossible to know whose anger it was they could see.

"Jake? Is he okay?" Seth repeated, and Jake never took his eyes off of Embry as he answered.

"He'll have to be," Jake said seriously. "Or I'll have to kill him."

"Can you do that?" the Beta whispered, dropping down to his haunches as Embry's mouth tightened.

"If Samantha's gone," Jake replied quietly, "Then yes, I can. I think I have to."

Seth shivered, asking, "How long does he have?"

Embry's teeth ground down together and he let out a strangled snarl as chocolate dipped dangerously to black. Jake took a step forward and growled, "Not long enough." The Alpha phased, and padded over to Embry, settling in front of him, ready. Willing. Able to do what he must.

The Beta closed his eyes and waited, wondering if this was a death vigil they kept. Embry grimaced and battled on.

* * *

Paul knew Brady played the guitar, but he was surprised the kid was that damn good.

He had lulled everyone into a sort of calm, although they all knew who he was really playing for. Collin seemed pleased as punch that Brady was playing, Quil had relaxed significantly, and before Jared and Sam had taken off, Jared had looked proud as hell of Brady. But it was the girl draped out on the porch, her head tilted Brady's way as she quietly listened and ate a sandwich that made Paul finally relax himself. It had been a busy twenty-four hours, and he had been pretty distracted, but now everything was calming down, at least as much as it could be considering. Soothed by the sounds of the twelve string, Paul had almost fallen asleep, his Pack around him, safe and secure.

And then there was Cassie.

You see, Paul had kept her briefly informed of the last twenty-four hours, but he had almost entirely forgotten about this road trip they had planned. So it was with confusion he was jerked awake by a horn blaring, its honks in the sounds of puppies barking at a nearly obscene volume. And then there was the vehicular atrocity that rumbled its way down the drive, the largest 70's model Winnebago that Paul had ever seen, complete with peeling yellow and white paint, rusted rims, and gigantic puppy ears painted on either side of the driver's and passenger's side windows. Paul watched in horror as his excited little imprint honked the puppy horn several times and turned the RV so it was facing the cabin, letting the now speechless Pack see that it was in fact complete with a puppy dog nose and big droopy eyes. Someone had written in a series of little paw prints 'Shaggin' Waggin'' on the front.

Paul shuddered as it screeched to a halt, but slowly uncoiled himself and rose to his feet.

"Dude, does that say '_Shaggin Waggin_'?" Collin asked, and then he busted up laughing. "Holy shit, Brade! Brady, look at the rear end."

Brady ducked his head, still strumming lightly, and then grinned as he saw what Collin had been referring to. Someone had made the doggy Winnebago more anatomically correct. Sims had followed Brady's gaze, and then she choked on her sandwich. "Are those-?"

"Truck balls," Collin and Brady said simultaneously, and Collin waved his arm at Cassie as she appeared out of the Winnebago's side door. "Hey mama! I like your balls!"

"Thanks!" Cassie chirped, beaming proudly. "I had a hard time finding the right size to match the right color. All the white balls were just too small, but I rush ordered some bigger ones. I don't think I put them on right, though, and Roman flat out refused to do it for me."

"Roman?" Paul growled a little as he strode up to Cassie, and she smiled up at him.

"Well, of course, he's the one who helped my find a place that carried them. I had to say hi anyways, he's kind of pissed at me right now, and I'm not asking Jonathan to do it. I tried to get Roman to come on the first half of the-"

"_No_." Paul hadn't meant it to come out that harshly, but Cassie just laughed and reached her arms up to him. Paul complied and snatched her up, kissing her firmly before letting her back down. "No ex's on the trip, unless you want me to eat them, Cass."

"Aww, Paul's jealous. Really, Roman's the only friend I have that you would actually like, Paul, except for the pesky sex stuff. Does it help to know that I'm sure I would like future sex with you much more than past sex with him?"

"I think you should stop reminding me you slept with him if you want a friend left," Paul muttered, hands possessively on her hips as he kissed her again. And again. And again one more time just to remind her that she was _his_ now. Cassie was grinning against his lips, and Paul groaned when he realized he'd been played. "You did that on purpose, huh?"

"Men are much more fun riled up," Cassie decided happily, then she bounced on her feet and did a little spin on her toes that was much too graceful for any of the rest of them. "Hey Paul, do you like our road trip RV? Isn't it perfect? It's not only a classical American road trip vehicle, but it also is themed! The inside smells a little weird, I don't think the previous owners realized that marijuana really does need a chance to air out if you don't want to ruin the upholstery, but all in all, I think it's perfect! So what do you think?"

"I think that you should never be allowed to drive something that's only three feet short of semi-truck length, Cass. At least the Vette can only destroy one thing at a time, this baby can take out whole swathes of things."

"You don't like it?" Cassie's face fell, and Paul chuckled, ruffling her perfectly styled hair, loving how it never occurred to her to fix it afterwards.

"I like _some_ things, Cass. I…ummm…I like the yellow. Winnebago's a good brand, they've been around for a while. And it'll at least be more comfortable to travel in," he admitted, unwilling to lie to his imprint. Quil was snickering as Paul tried to find nice things to say about the rusted beast. "The balls are a nice…touch. I understand the need for continuity with the dog theme, I guess."

"Oh, no, I just liked them," Cassie said cheerfully. "I Googled 'classic American road trip' and found all sorts of interesting things, including that I should drive an RV, and in my search for RV's I found that the cool American drivers always have truck balls, and since I didn't want to embarrass anyone with my non-American-ness, I decided to completely submerge myself in the culture. See Paul? I'm even wearing a John Deere belt buckle."

That she was. Paul just grinned and swatted her on the butt lightly, holding her close as he inspected her purchase. God, it was hideous, but she seemed so proud. Cassie was waving at Collin and the two were making faces at each other as Paul turned back to her. "Cass, where did you even find this?"

The tiny blonde patted her newly acquired vehicle proudly, and then brushed away the rust-flecked paint that touching it had caused to come off on her hand. "Oh, it was easy. I went to a flea market. Did you know that they don't actually sell fleas at flea markets? Which is good I guess, because who really _wants_ to buy a flea when you could get them for free if you just hang out with a few puppies long enough? Oh and that reminds me, I haven't asked you guys, do you ever get fleas? Because you really do scratch a lot, Paul, and if you need a flea bath, at any time at all just let me know." Cassie smirked and leaned forward. "After all, _someone_ needs to get around your tail."

"Cass," Paul growled half teasingly, but he snagged her around the hips and pulled her against him, pressing his nose to her shoulder and inhaling deeply. He had missed her, just in this last day being without her had been hard. It was easier to forget when he was so distracted by Pack, but when his imprint made a happy chirping noise in her throat, Paul remembered just how much sunlight this little person brought into his life.

"Missed you," he muttered against her neck, hauling her up in his arms, momentarily forgetting the onlookers as he kissed her thoroughly. Cassie never had minded being the center of attention, although Paul decided that maybe she could have waited to hook her legs around his waist when they were alone. Still he would never hurt her feelings, so when it became clear that she was quite comfortable how she was, Paul decided screw it. He was the third, he could do whatever the hell he wanted to. After he had made sure that there was no way she could possibly not feel attended to, Paul tapped Cassie lightly on the hip, waiting until she had untangled her legs before letting her drop lightly to her feet.

"Your car's ugly," he told her with a little smile, thinking the world was a much better place with her hands in his pockets and not someone else's. Not _Roman's_.

"It's a recreational vehicle, Paul," Cassie said loftily, "And I'm a little worried about how much stock you put in physical appearance. What about when I'm big and fat and pregnant with huge Paul babies, and my feet will be even uglier as they get swollen, and my cheeks will be puffy, and there'll probably be stretch marks…" The longer she spoke, the more unhappy Cassie looked, and by the time she said the words 'stretch marks', she looked up at him with horrified eyes. "Paul, there'll be _stretch marks_."

He chuckled and breathed in her ear, "I told you to let me know when the baby making was starting, momma. I don't want to miss out." Then he grabbed her rear end and squeezed until she giggled, thinking that her whole body could turn purple for all he cared, as long as she was still smiling.

Yeah, he probably did love her, huh?

Cassie pulled away long enough to eye the gathering on the porch. Brady was still strumming lightly on his guitar, although he was smiling a little and Collin was grinning huge. Quil looked a bit uncomfortable, and Sims had turned her attention back to Brady and his playing. Paul smirked at that, thinking they had found a new secret weapon against their Alpha's imprint. Whenever she was being stubborn, Paul was planning on shoving Brady and his guitar in her face and forcing her into musically induced amiability. Cassie locked in on Sims, and then frowned at Paul.

"She has a cast on her arm. You didn't try to turn her into a werewolf again, did you?" Cassie asked, and then she made a beeline for the porch, Paul wandering along after her as his imprint chided him. "Paul, how many times have I _told_ you not to try to turn people into werewolves?"

"I think this would be twice, Cass, but you can tell me again if you'd like," he chuckled as she climbed none too politely over Collin and Brady to get to Sims, who was watching her in mild amusement.

"What happened?" Cassie asked, ignoring Brady's annoyance as her hip knocked into the side of his head and Collin's grunt when she stepped on his parts. "Good choice with the black cast, by the way. White casts are so passé."

Sims gave Paul a mischievous look, and then suddenly she grinned at Cassie. "My boyfriend's wolf went crazy, so I beat it with a tire iron. The Pack showed up, so I beat the Alpha with a tire iron. I broke my own arm to hurt Jake, Embry dumped me, and Paul held my hand. Oh, and everyone thinks I'm a psycho bitch, that's why Paul has temporary custody of me."

Cassie was quiet for a moment and then she looked at Paul, a huge smile splitting her face. "Aww, Paul held your hand? I knew I was a good influence on him."

"Cass takes selective hearing to a new level," Collin said teasingly and Cassie bumped her shoulder into his.

"I love Collin," she declared to no one in particular. "I wouldn't sleep with him because he's been infested, and doesn't seem to realize that crabs lay eggs and hatch again, but I still love him. Of course, those kinds of things can't just be disinfected off, nope they can't, and I sure hope Collin doesn't share his towel with anyone in his family. Hey Paul, did you guys know that someone with crabs can actually spread them to their eyebrows and eyelids? How uncomfortable is that?"

Collin had grown very still, and Cassie gave him a bright smile as Brady started laughing.

"Don't worry, Collin, just put everything you own in plastic bags for a few days and they'll die off. You might want to hurry though," she suggested, "It would suck to have them come back, or worse, spread to your family. That's an uncomfortable sex talk with a mother. You see, Mommy, there was this Mexican whore, and she gave me all these little-" Collin was off the porch like a rocket, darting for home while cursing up a storm. Cassie turned to Paul with a grin, saying, "You know, that was entirely worth an hour's worth of internet searches. I even printed out pictures but I left them in the Shaggin' Waggin'."

"The Shaggin' Waggin?" Quil chuckled, "Did you come up with that, Cassie?"

"Yep," Cassie waggled her eyebrows at Paul. "Cause it's a road trip, baby, and I wanna get lucky. This is the longest I've gone without sex in months." Cassie leveled a suggestive look at Paul, adding, "Of course, we don't have to leave for another hour, Paul, if you wanna-"

"And I'm out," Quil said, bailing back inside the cabin. Sims was kind of trapped against the railing, so she couldn't escape, but Cassie turned bright hazel eyes Brady's way instead of Sims's.

"You can watch if you want, Brady," Cassie purred. "After all, you did work _awfully_ hard to save us when the guys were gone. I know you're young, but age is just a number and-.

Cassie was mid-sentence in her attempt to give Brady sexual enlightening, but Brady had taken one look at a frowning Paul and went darting after Collin, his beloved guitar in hand. Cassie grinned. "Yay, now that everyone left, road trip!"

"I'm still here," Sims pointed out and Cassie nodded.

"Yep. Because you're going with us. If Paul has temporary custody, then you have no choice in the matter. Paul? Where're her bags?"

Paul had been busy watching Brady retreat, so he was a little out of the loop. "Huh?" he asked, turning back around. "What bags, Cass?" Apparently that was the wrong answer because Cassie was fixing him with that look. It wasn't the' Kim is glaring at Jared in disapproval' look, the one that left Jared grumbling and feeling about two feet tall. No, it was the 'Cass is deeply saddened by Paul's callousness' look, which left Paul fumbling for an anti-callous button he had broken a long time ago, also feeling about two feet tall.

"Paul," Cassie said sadly, "You have custody, so of _course_ there needs to be bags. If you want to have babies, there's always bags, and even if they're big babies, there's still bags involved. So where are Sims's bags?"

"Did she just call me a big _baby_?" Sims asked, tipping her head to the side, and Paul grimaced.

"Honey, Sims can break you. She almost broke Jake, so you might want to watch what you say-"

"Nope. Sayin' what I want, so where's her bags?"

"Um…I left them at…her…home?" Paul tried and Cassie smiled brightly.

"Okay! We'll just have to go get them first. Sims can ride with me to show me where, I assume you'll be…" she left it hanging, and Paul glanced around for help. Inside the house Quil muttered 'going to get them ready' and Paul cleared his throat.

"I'll be going to get them ready?" he tried and Cassie beamed.

"Isn't he a nice boy?" she asked Sims, grabbing her by the non-broken arm and pulling her up. Cassie was stronger than Paul had realized because she had half hauled a surprised Sims to her feet before the younger girl realized she was being man handled by the other imprint. Cassie dragged Sims away towards the Waggin', Sims casting a look back at Paul that was slightly amused.

He watched in slight disbelief as Cassie started up the Winnebago and honked the horn happily, before performing the worst three point turn ever attempted in the history of mankind. Paul had nearly a half-acre of cleared land in front of his cabin, and she still almost managed to hit him. Twice. Paul didn't have the heart to tell Cassie that Quil had slipped out of the house, a bag in hand, and the two wolves had simply pushed the Winnebago when she kept trying to back it over Paul's home. Maybe he should teach her how to drive one of these days?

The balls were swinging about merrily as Cassie finally found drive again and was off, the RV bouncing along the road. Paul shuddered again, then looked down at the bag Quil shoved into his hands. "What's this?"

"Your shit."

"Thanks honey," Paul smirked and Quil flipped him off. It didn't take very long for Paul to run across the reservation, although it was a touch tricky to get into Sims's house and out when it was full of Carter and his friends. Casey was passed out on Sims's bed, and Paul frowned. He liked Casey, he knew Shane _really_ liked Casey, but Sims shouldn't have to come home to shit like this. Someone was going to have to do something about it, and if Embry couldn't, one of the rest of them would.

Maybe Jake and Carter could have a heart to heart one of these days.

Paul tugged a blanket over Casey's prone form, grabbed the duffel bag in Sims's otherwise empty room and slipped out. It occurred to Paul that it wasn't necessarily a good sign that Sims kept all of her life's possessions like this, in a way that she could grab them and run on a moment's notice, but it fit her personality. Guarded, ready, lonely. Paul really hoped that Jake and Embry figured out how to fix this, because that girl would never be the same if Embry died. But Paul didn't think it would happen. He trusted Jake, he was confident Jake would fix it before things got that bad. That was what Alphas were there for.

He met the girls before they pulled onto that street so that Sims wouldn't have to deal with her father and Paul wouldn't have to kill anyone, and Paul switched seats with her and took the passenger seat next to Cassie. Cassie looked happy as can be, honking and waving at everyone she saw, to the point that Paul was tempted to hide his face in his hands. Instead he glared death at the residents of La Push, daring any of them to even smirk at the anatomically correct puppy dog Winnebago careening through town.

"Gee, everyone looks so grim today, huh?" Cassie murmured as she pulled onto the major road leading out of the rez. In the back living area, Sims snickered but didn't say anything, because Paul promptly threw her bag in her face, making her curse and duck. He grinned at her when she glared at him, and then just for the hell of it Paul threw his bag at her too. It backfired a little, because Sims just may have accidentally kicked it out the open window as they passed by one of the small streams heading out of town, and his things may or may not have become instantly ruined.

"Oops," Sims murmured as Paul glared this time, but Cassie just honked her horn again, smiling at the puppy barks covering the wolf growl.

"Don't worry, I ordered Paul plenty of stuff to choose from for the party, so he can just keep it all," Cassie supplied helpfully, "Although it really is hard to know what size underwear to buy someone you've never had sex with."

"Extra-large," Paul muttered at the same time Sims said "Extra-small."

"Kid, I'm gonna spank your ass if you don't start behaving," Paul growled, and Cassie's smile faded into an annoyed little look.

"You won't spank _me_," she muttered, and Paul looked at her in horror. Sims scratched her cast, because she wasn't smirking. Oh no. Not at _all_.

Jack was waiting for them on the very outside of the reservation, because unlike Paul, Jack hadn't forgotten he had been ordered to go road tripping. Cassie had never met the most recent addition to the Pack, but there was no mistaking the medium sized man standing by the road. Jack's dark hair was cut short like the rest of the Pack's, his skin deeply tanned from time spent under the sun even when not phased, and he had a series of scars criss-crossing the bridge of his nose, angling beneath his right eye. The ancient wolf looked to be no older than his late twenties, only slightly older than the other wolves of La Push, although there was something in the way he held himself completely still that hinted his maturity as Cassie pulled off the side of the road and honked the horn, grinning and waving through the window as the series of puppy barks made Paul give her a pained look.

"Really, Cass? You really had to get this one?" he wondered, although his question came out slightly plaintively, making Cassie smirk and beep the horn again. Jack raised an eyebrow as Cassie hopped out of her seat and opened the side door for him, the tiny girl flinging herself at the wolf.

"Hi, new Packmate! I'm Cassie, but you can call me the most awesome imprint _ever_," she chirped, kissing Jack on the cheek happily. "Well, maybe not the most awesome ever, but the most awesome imprint Paul has ever had. And since I'm the only imprint here, or we're pretending that because no one is supposed to know that Jake imprinted on Sims, because really, why else would she break her own arm to make the Alpha stop doing anything, but since I'm the only one, you're welcome to kiss me regularly, or at least give me hugs. I like those."

Sims was making strangling noises from her seat on the Winnebago's couch, Jack looked a little confused as he stared at both Sims and Cassie, and Paul was praying to some deity located above his head and below the Winnebago's roof.

"Better hug her, Jack," Paul suggested as his imprint rather enthusiastically hugged Jack, paying special attention to his arms and torso. "Or you'll hurt her feelings and then she'll order me to kill you. And since I can't kill you and you won't kill me, we'll end up staring at each other for the next hour."

"Don't be ridiculous Paul, I wouldn't ever hurt anyone in the Pack, especially not Jack, he's much too sweet. Honey, you do know how to talk, don't you?" She asked him worriedly, then glanced at Paul.

"Hach tochoktiya, Cassie," Jack said very politely, ducking his head, "Hista alita." Cassie beamed at him before bouncing back to her seat, dragging him with her. Jack had a small homemade leather bag hooked over his shoulder and a ball cap on his head that read "Transylvania or Bust" and Paul grinned at Jack over the passenger's seat.

"That was mean," Paul chuckled, and even Sims was smiling a little.

"What was mean?" Cassie asked cheerfully.

"Jack told you good afternoon and to go get him a fish," Sims explained, having picked up more Quileute since spending time with Embry. Cassie tipped her head to the side, looking a little confused.

"Umm, okay, I could do that," Cassie said, still smiling although a bit uncertainly, and Paul smirked as she added, "Was there a particular kind of fish?"

"He was teasing you, Cass," Paul told her, reaching over and patting her knee as Jack settled on the floor at Sims's feet. He was looking at her with solemn eyes, and it was making Sims uncomfortable, so Paul pulled Jack's attention back to himself. "Hey, man. Did Rico give you that?"

"It's my road trip hat," Jack said quietly, but a tiny smile played about his mouth. "He also gave me a shirt that says 'Vampires Suck'."

"Fucking leech," Paul shook his head, but he chuckled as he kicked his foot up on the dash. "I think that guy's got a vamp crush on you, Jack. Cass, you're heading back to Seattle on the 101 going east, but grab the WA-20 instead of the WA-104."

"Are you my co-pilot, Paul Coho?" Cassie asked in a teasing voice as she honked her puppy horn one more time, pulling the monstrosity back out onto the road.

"Always, Cass," Paul winked at her and Cassie blushed prettily. It was there, not a quarter mile out of La Push, that Cassie nearly killed them all, teaching Paul a very dear lesson about never distracting his imprint when she was driving. But it was most definitely not Cassie's fault, Paul gave very good wink when he put his mind to it, and no girl could keep herself from getting at least a little distracted during the process. But Cassie blushed, looked at the road, then let out a horrified shriek as something cute and little and grey darted beneath the wheels of the Winnebago. She slammed on the breaks, but had the unfortunate luck of covering her eyes so she wouldn't see cute little grey parts go flying by in a shower of bloody horribleness.

Paul was a good boyfriend. He didn't even yell at her while he was cursing and making a grab for the wheel before she flipped the damn RV over with not only her, but the _Alpha's_ imprint inside. Jack had snagged Sims as the sideways careening vehicle sent her flying off the couch, although he earned an accidental knee in the groin for his effort and Sims's face smooshed in his neck.

"Ow," Sims murmured, her broken arm having been caught in between her and Jack, but Paul was more concerned with the fact that his imprint was still shrieking with her eyes closed.

"I killed it! Paul! _I killed it_!"

"Cass, it was just a squirrel," Paul told her, growling and unbuckling her seat belt, pulling her out of her seat and placing her on his own because someone had to drive and it sure as hell wasn't going to be her anymore.

"_Paul_!" Cassie wailed miserably. "We have to check!"

"What? Cass, there's nothing on the road," he looked in the review mirrors, thinking that this monstrosity probably squished it to smithereens and the squirrel now had Firestone printed on its little self.

"Is she always like this?" Jack asked Sims, helping her to her feet and keeping a protective hand on her waist as Paul got the Winnebago off the road. Sims just shrugged, she had been living in her own little Embry world and had been keeping herself as removed from the imprints as possible. Hell if she knew.

"Paul! Paul, you have to check!"

"I have to check?" Paul rolled his eyes but climbed out of the driver's seat, making sure to take the keys with him. "Why do _I_ have to check? You killed it, Cass." That was the wrong thing to say. Paul knew that was the wrong thing to say and yet there it was, rolling off his tongue even as his brain made a desperate grab for it. It was too late though, because Cassie's hazel eyes grew wider and watery and he cursed. "Shit, Cass, I'm sorry. I'll go check."

"Hey Paul?" Sims waited until he was almost out the door and she raised an eyebrow at him when he paused. "Why don't you go check?" she suggested with a smirk.

The Alpha's imprint. He couldn't eat the Alpha's imprint. However he could enlist her help, so Paul stepped back into the Winnebago and flipped Sims over his shoulder, enjoying her oomph as the air got thumped out of her lungs. Jack followed at Paul's heels, leaving the distraught Cassie trying to research possible Fork's veterinarians on her cell phone. He looked as he walked around the vehicle, but there were no remains and as soon as they were out of ear shot, Paul dropped Sims on her butt in the grass none too gently and looked at Jack.

"Okay. We try to find the damn squirrel, or at least act like we are and if it's dead, don't say shit, okay?" Paul growled. "It's a six hour drive to Vancouver and I'm not traveling the whole time with Cass in tears. Jack, no butterflies, and Sims, try not to instigate any Pack battles in the next ten minutes."

"Paul?" Cassie was calling out the window, leaning out with red eyes and a sad look on her face. "You didn't find it, did you?" she asked, and then she sniffed.

"I'm looking, baby, give us a minute here," Paul called back as Sims crawled to her feet and rolled her eyes.

"God, you're so whipped," she muttered, and Paul poked her broken arm. "Dammit, Paul, that's hurts!"

"Yeah," he growled back, "Because your dumbass broke it because you're _so fucking whipped_, Sims. Now go find the fucking squirrel." Paul propelled her off in the woods, a slightly amused Jack at her heels. Paul stepped into the woods and sighed. He could probably go sniff the tire and the road and track the little shit but it was a squirrel. Come on, he was supposed to track a squirrel? He was the third, dammit.

The wolf wondered if perhaps the reason that Paul wouldn't hunt for their mate was because he feared their prey? The wolf would protect him, if he was so concerned.

There wasn't much that he could say to that. Snarling a string of curses in Quileute aimed at the wolf and stray rodents, Paul was stomping back to sniff the road and _hunt for their mate_ when Jack let out a soft yipping noise, audible only to Paul's ears. Jack and Sims weren't very far away, but by the time Paul reached them Sims was looking a little grossed out and Jack had something grey and limp dangling from his hand.

"Damn, she did kill it huh?" Paul said, eyeing the deceased squirrel.

"Actually, she mortally wounded it," Sims said calmly, scratching at her cast. "Jack killed it. Snapped its little neck."

Paul cursed and glared at Jack, who seemed unaffected. "It was in pain," Jack said simply, gently placing the squirrel beneath the leaves of a low shrub. Paul's phone rang, it was his imprint, and Paul cursed again as he picked up.

"Yeah, Cass?"

"I've got the vet in Forks waiting for us, Paul," Cassie said in a little voice. "If you can find it, they'll be ready. I also called Garritt and told him we might not make the party. Paul, you haven't found it, have you? Paul?"

"I'm working on it, Cass," Paul growled and snapped the phone back shut. "Okay, we have to find another fucking squirrel."

"You're shitting me," Sims stared at Paul like he was crazy. "Just tell her it's dead."

"She'll be upset," Paul explained tiredly, rubbing his eyes. Jack had already disappeared into the forest, presumably to do as the Third requested, because it wasn't his place to question the more ridiculous decisions made by his more dominant Pack leaders. Nope.

"Why do you care?" Sims wanted to know, being more dominant and more of the questioning type. "It was an accident, it doesn't matter. Yeah it sucks for the squirrel, but it wasn't Cassie's fault."

"Because she's my imprint," Paul growled a little louder, "And I'm her wolf, and I'm supposed to take care of her. Kind of like Jake got your ass away from Embry while he's healing, I'm finding a damn squirrel. Believe it or not, she probably cares as much about this as you do about that." His phone was ringing again, and Paul's growl became a little strangled. "Cass, I know, okay? I'm working on it."

"The vet said that time is of the essence," Cassie informed him worriedly. "Do you need me to come help?" Paul looked at the mangled little paw poking out from under the leaf and winced.

"Ah…no," Paul decided, nudging the paw with his toe back out of view while Sims snickered. "No, Cassie. Just stay where you are. We'll be back in a minute okay? I can't…hunt…and talk on the phone. You got to give me a chance here, baby."

"Hurry, Paul," Cassie whispered brokenly and this time when she hung up the phone, Paul shoved it back into his pockets with a little more force than necessary. Sims was flat out laughing at him now, and it occurred to Paul that the warm fuzzy feeling that he was getting from making his Alpha's normally serious imprint laugh was ruined by the fact that he might actually hate her guts at the moment.

"Found one," Jack said quietly, appearing next to Sims, holding a large grey squirrel by the scruff of its neck. The little thing was fighting and clawing for its life and looked much too vicious to be injured. It locked eyes with each of them in turn, little beady balls of darkness that promised death and dismemberment to them and all their kind.

"Is it just me or is that squirrel kind of…" Paul started, trailing off as it ceased fighting and honed in on him, as if sensing his position as the greatest threat.

"Especially freaky looking?" Sims supplied, and then glared it down as the sound of her voice pulled the squirrel's attention her way. "Jack, maybe a different squirrel?"

"The others fled," Jack shrugged, "and this one stayed to fight. It was easy to catch, but the others are gone."

"Well, it doesn't look injured at all, and Cassie's not going to believe it's the same squirrel," Paul grunted. "Jack, hold it down. Sims, step on it."

Jack squashed it down on the ground, looking a little bored as the squirrel chittered furiously and bit at his hand, but Sims was staring at Paul. "You want me to do _what_?"

"Step on the squirrel. Make it look squashed so we can go back and Cassie will stop-dammit. _Yeah_, Cass? Baby, come on, just go…go buy something. I don't know, on your phone, just give me two minutes, okay? Just two, that's all I need." Paul snapped the phone shut and glared at Sims. "Step on the damn squirrel, just don't actually hurt it too much, because I'm _not_ paying squirrel vet bills."

Sims raised an eyebrow, a little smirk on her face. "What's it worth to you, Paul?"

"Twenty bucks," Paul snapped, stuffing a bill in her hand and Sims smiled prettily.

"Deal." And she stepped on the squirrel. Mercilessly. So mercilessly in fact that Paul wondered if maybe it was a good thing this girl had never phased because Leah was scary enough, and even though Sims aimed for the tail, she could have at least shown a little remorse in her actions. The squirrel let out a strangled squeaker squeaken noise and then Jack lifted it back up, its tail now squashed on the end. The squirrel had finally realized who its true enemy was and was locked in, and Paul wondered if he should kill it just out of principle. After all if something was targeting the Alpha's imprint, he really should kill it, but he'd gone to a lot of trouble to make Cassie happy here, so the freaky vengeful squirrel would have to do. Paul took it from Jack and carried it back to the Winnebago, displaying it at window level for Cassie to see.

"Got it," he said proudly, although she looked horrified.

"I did run over it!" she cried, rushing out of the Winnebago and wrapping the squirrel up in her jacket, a John Deere green number that probably cost more than Paul made in a month. "Paul, I still want to take it to the vet."

"But Cass…"

"You don't have to come too, but the Shaggin' Waggin' and I are going to the vet." Cassie marched back into the vehicle, leaving Paul standing in the road. Then he cursed and followed her, Sims snickering behind him,

"Okay, so I wouldn't say whipped…" Sims murmured, shoot a smug little look at Paul. "More like pulverized."

Paul could have gotten in the Winnebago with dignity. He chose instead to poke a seventeen year old's broken arm. It was completely worth it.

* * *

"Misty?"

The young doctor startled awake, a paper sticking to her cheek as she snapped her head up off her desk. Her mentor gave her a tired smile, and then shook his head negative before slipping back out of her office. Misty shivered, but then placed her head back on the desk, rubbing her leg as she tried and failed to go back to sleep. The storm was returning, she knew, and there'd be no more sleep for her anyways. A couple hours later, the wind picked up unexpectedly, the rolling clouds leaving the land in shadow.

The doctor wished that one of these times, she could just be wrong.

* * *

Paul liked road trips. He really did. And he liked his imprint too. Hell he liked all of his Pack, even if he wasn't all that sure about Sims, but this was exactly what he had expected when he had told Jake he hated him. Sims was ping ponging between silent depression over Embry and playful evilness directed Paul's way, Jack was seated at her feet, watching her every movement like a damn guard dog, and Cassie was cuddling a possibly emotionally disturbed squirrel she had lovingly named Pyatno.

Naming a squirrel 'Spot' was stupid, even if it was in Russian. Almost as stupid as being a self-respecting wolf driving a Winnebago with balls.

The vet had been suspicious of the damage done to the squirrel, stating even as he splinted Pyatno's tail that it looked more like blunt trauma than vehicular abrasions to him. However Cassie had been crying, big fat pretty tears, and Paul had been glaring, big fat angry glares, and the vet shut his mouth and did his job. Cassie wanted only the best for her Pyatno, no expense spared, and by the time she was done, the damn squirrel's toenails had practically been manicured. As if sensing an ally in the little blonde, the squirrel had played nice, but it was still eyeing Sims vindictively.

It finally stopped when Jack growled at it and snapped his teeth.

Paul learned in the six hour drive to Vancouver that Seth was right on target in using annoying behaviors in dealing with Sims, because she simply couldn't maintain a sad look when having rubber bands flicked at her head every three minutes. Paul had found a ball of rubber bands in the glove box, along with some…oregano that he had tossed out before any of the less responsible members of his Pack noticed it, and he had decided to make the rubber bands a Sims torture device. Paul had also learned that when ordered to flick rubber bands at Sims every three minutes, Jack would do as he was told until expressly ordered to stop by Paul. Jack did try to appease his Alpha's mate by flicking the least annoying spots until Paul ordered face only flicks, and Sims was forced to steal the Transylvania or Bust hat to protect herself from werewolf attack maneuvers.

That part was fun, and once he got over the fact that Cassie wanted the horn blown nearly as often as Sims was being flicked, Paul was enjoying himself. But then Cassie insisted on bringing out her idea of American road trip music, and there was only so much Bob Marley and Willie Nelson that Paul could take. Somewhere along the lines Cass had been led slightly astray on her concept of American road trip norms, and Paul suspected a certain valet had at least something to do with it. They were close to the Canadian border when a sports car full of very pretty teenage girls pulled up and honked, giggling wildly and yelling to Paul that he had lost his balls two miles back.

Cass made him go find them.

Cass made him clean them off because they were dirty now.

Cass made him put them back on, and when he didn't adjust them properly, she made him hold the balls for her inspection as she decided the most appropriate height. For the record, plastic or not, Paul just wasn't comfortable cupping balls. Especially not in view of a major interstate.

Sims had hidden in the Winnebago after snickering and telling Paul that he had lost _his_ balls _more_ than two miles ago, but Cassie had decided that Paul needed help because he simply wasn't doing it properly. When a truckload of locals drove by and questioned Paul's sexual preferences, Samantha had howled, laughing so hard that she was hurting her arm from her shoulders shaking. Paul had growled and thumped her on the face with the truck balls, which only made her laugh harder. Apparently her laughing and subsequent shoulder shaking had hurt enough that Jake had become worried, and he had called Paul up, distracted and angry, wondering just what the hell Paul was doing to get the Alpha's imprint in pain like that. Cassie had taken the phone and cheerfully informed Jake that Sims was fine and that all Paul had done was smack Sims in the face with his balls, and the silence over the phone had been dreadful.

It was even worse when Seth snatched up the phone and in a very dangerous voice told Paul that Seth would shred every last bit of skin from his body piece by piece if he so much as thought about his balls when Sims was in the room. Bunny lop had enough she was dealing with right now, and the last thing she needed was Paul's sick ass molesting her. Seth made Paul pass the phone over to Sims, who sniffed and told Seth in a very distressed voice that Paul just wasn't the person that she had thought he was, and even from that far away, Paul had nearly eaten black top when Seth put his nose in the ground in fury. Paul had crawled back into the Winnebago and phased, breaking the coffee pot and a bong that the previous owners didn't want anymore, and had tried to show his Alpha what had really happened.

By the time they had stopped laughing at him, Jack had fixed the balls and handed Sims an aspirin, and was eyeing Paul a little dubiously. Back in Jack's Pack days, the Third had usually shown a touch more dignity and capability than this. The squirrel wondered if anyone noticed the huge wolf that was now in the Winnebago, or if She-Who-Has-The-Foot-Of-Death had damaged its mind along with its body. It hid in the glove box and watched the assembly with the growing certainty that there was more to this than the usual kidnapping and torture practices that were customary between his kind. Someone must have hired these browned skinned ones for more dastardly reasons, and the squirrel would bide his time until he knew their plans.

The wolf considered warning Paul that the tiny thing should be eaten immediately, but then grew distracted as their imprint climbed in and kissed their still furry nose and he completely forgot.

It had taken Cass awhile, but she had found Pyatno and had wrapped him up again, feeding him bits of the Ho-Ho's she had brought on the trip, and a now human Paul had taken refuge in making Jack drive over the border to Canada. Sims didn't have a passport, but sneaking her across the border was simple. There were hidden sensors in the more remote wooded areas to tell of unauthorized crossings, but Paul had been through this area plenty of times and was able to slip past them easily, Sims on his back and pulling at his ears to try to make him change directions.

For the record, Paul really didn't see that mud puddle that he dropped her into, and would swear by the fact until his dying day.

* * *

Cassie knew that sometimes her positive attitude on life could sometimes be construed as flightiness or unintelligence, but she was much more perceptive than people gave her credit for.

For instance, she knew that Sims was the Alpha's imprint not because of just what Sims had said, but because Paul was practically breaking his neck trying to watch out for both her and Cassie at the same time, and every time Sims frowned or looked sad, Paul was doing everything he could to try to cheer her up, if in his surly grouchy way. It would have maybe hurt Cassie's feelings, but she tried not to be the jealous type. After all, it didn't take a lot to make her smile, and as soon as Paul could pull his attention away from Sims, it landed right back on Cassie.

He was trying so hard, like he always did, and Cassie thought it was sweet. She also thought it was unfair, because Paul seemed to get stuck with work even when he was supposed to be having fun. If it weren't for the fact that Afon would have his men on her like flies on honey if she skipped another social gathering of this magnitude, she would have slipped away to a hole in the wall bar and let Paul have a fun night of hanging out and watching sports while eating hot wings instead. Unfortunately Cassie had to go to Garritt's party, and she was glad that Paul was coming with her. She brought different dates to these things all the time, so she wasn't necessarily worried about his face becoming too familiar. After all, Paul for all his intelligence and perceptiveness did kind of look like arm candy.

He'd fit right in.

The Hotel Fairmont Waterfront was the place Cassie usually stayed in when in Vancouver, because even if she wasn't too thrilled with the place, Roman had it set up to his likings and had even accommodated her by making sure her normal suite had a beautiful view of the city. But it was pretty fancy for La Push standards and Cassie could tell by the silence in the RV as they pulled up that no one was particularly excited about her choice. Well, so what if Paul was a little dirty and Sims had fallen in a mud puddle, poor girl, and Jack was grimacing at the towering building? She didn't have time to arrange a house without giving her already furious and stressed out bodyguard heart failure.

Someone had gotten a knife in him a few days ago and he was being especially…touchy. Roman didn't like her being in La Push as often as she was, Roman didn't think that her parties were throwing Afon off anymore, and Roman thought that Cassie better get her ass to Russia quick if she wanted to head any of this shit off. She'd go. She was planning on telling Paul as soon as the road trip was over. It was just…it was just that she knew he'd be disappointed and for the next couple days, Cassie was just Cass, Paul's imprint, and she wanted to make the most of that that she could. But she was also Ksanochka Ivanovna Fedorova too, so did she valet park the Shaggin' Waggin'? Heck yeah, she did.

Cassie had thrown a few parties herself at this very hotel, one right before she had met Paul, so the staff recognized her as she hopped out of her Winnebago, Pyatno cradled to her chest and her hand in Paul's huge one. Cassie had already had her clothes sent here from her normal hotel, so she didn't have any bags, but when Sims and Jack tried to grab their own things, Cassie shook her head.

"Oh, the valets will bring them up," Cassie told the pair with a smile, but Sims and Jack shared a look.

"Umm, we can each carry a bag, Cassie," Sims said a touch derisively, and Cassie smiled even brighter at her.

"Of course you can," Cassie chirped. "And so can the valet. Only if you carry your bag, then the valet, who makes a significant portion of their take home pay from tips, goes home with less money in their pockets. And considering that we have paid for one of the more expensive suites here, they have probably been fighting over who gets to take our things to our room, in hopes that their tips today would maybe pay for an extra tank of gas, or maybe help make the water bill. You're welcome to carry your own bag, Sims, but I'm going to ask Paul to take it back from you anyways, because it looks like Becca won the draw to be our valet, and she's got two teenage kids at home she's raising herself."

Sims took one look at the smiling middle aged woman eagerly approaching them with a cart, and let her bag drop to the ground, a slightly stunned expression on her face. Paul was smirking as he nodded hello to Becca and put Sims's duffle on the cart. Jack merely stayed silent and did the same as Cassie hugged the valet quickly and slipped a couple twenties in her hand.

"Yay, road trip, but yay for parties too," Cassie chirped taking Paul's hand again and tugging him inside. Sims was quiet, but she looked slightly embarrassed as she and Jack followed at Paul and Cassie's heels. Cassie waved at the check in desk, knowing that someone was already on their way to let the group in, and turned to Sims as the piled into the elevator.

"It's okay," Cassie told her with a gentle smile. "You're used to doing things for yourself, and that's a good thing. But sometimes letting other people do things for you helps them more than it helps you to be self-sufficient."

"Having people wait on you isn't a good thing," Sims disagreed, and Cassie chuckled as she punched the button for the top floor. Pyatno had eaten too many Ho-Ho's to have an opinion other than sleepiness, but he did take the effort to glare at Sims suspiciously. "It makes you lazy and it's degrading to them."

"And making people feel like trash because they're unnecessary is better?" Cassie tilted her head to the side, and glanced at Paul. "Is not contributing to the economy by not supporting the lower class and poverty level citizens of the country better? I'd rather be lazy and feel good about myself at night, knowing forty dollars bought Becca a bag of groceries than for lauding myself for carrying a bag I could carry every day without helping a soul."

"All you're doing is throwing money in people's faces," Sims stated, and Cassie shrugged.

"Sure, but I'm also throwing affection and kindness in their faces as well. Money helps them buy food, water, shelter, and supplies the needs of the id. Affection and kindness help them to identify with me, breaks down the barriers of isolation, a defense mechanism of the ego, and helps build self-esteem the way that only close companionship can do. And in my personal super egotistic desire for perfection, I find that my actions have benefitted society more than myself, because if I had carried the bag, I could have bought my own food or water or shelter, and that would be very id of me. What do you think Paul? Am I super yet?"

"Moderately so, Cass," Paul chuckled and dropped a kiss on her forehead, and Cassie beamed up at him. She really did love him, and not because the mirrors in the elevator made it so that she could see all his two thousand parts so nicely.

"Yeah, but what if you don't have money to throw around?" Sims was questioning, not exactly defensively, but not seeing eye to eye with Cassie. "What if you're stuck on the id level, because you need those things? What if you have to carry the bag because that's where you are in life?"

"Then you have to decide whose id is more important, yours or theirs," Cassie hummed, patting Pyatno lovingly.

"Which would be very super-ego of me and utterly pointless to debate," Sims chuckled a little and Cassie grinned because Sims had gotten the point much faster than people normally did with her. The elevator doors opened and Cassie stepped out, saying hello to the hotel employee waiting at her room with keys in hand. His name was Brandon, he had worked there for ten years, wanted to be a manager one day, and his eldest was expecting in three weeks. He'd also get them anything they needed during their stay, and Cassie had a new friend. She liked new friends, a lot.

By the time Cassie was done talking to Brandon and slipping him his own twenties, Sims had already disappeared into one of the suite's two bathrooms to de-mud herself, and the wolves had sank down on the living room couches. Paul was chuckling at something Jack had murmured to him in Quileute. Cassie plopped down on Paul's knee, loving how his arms felt around her as he cuddled her and Pyatno close. "What'd I miss?" she asked as Paul sniffed her shoulder before kissing it lightly.

"Jack said that I'm going to have to learn to hunt better if I'm supposed to feed a mate with a thousand bellies," he explained, and Cassie looked down at her stomach in confusion. Paul's low rumbling laugh vibrated her shoulder and caused Pyatno to wiggle out of her arms and dart away from He-Who-Growls-And-Turns-Fluffy. "It means that you want to take care of everyone and it'll get expensive."

"When I'm out of money, I'll hug people instead," Cassie decided, thinking that Paul's hugs were better than anything else she had ever known. And maybe this weekend she could get a couple extra hugs in a couple extra places? Hmmm…

Paul and Jack started talking again in those soft noises that Cassie didn't understand, and she closed her eyes, enjoying his warmth and letting her mind drift away from reality and to her wolf. She really liked his arms, she liked how strong they were when wrapped around her. She really liked hearing his voice, because the deep vibrations were soothing. She really liked the way his hands would slide up and down her sides, arousing her without even trying. She liked how good he was at kissing, how he would slide his fingers through her hair and hold her head hostage as he kissed her thoroughly. She liked…

"Cass? How long until you have to start getting ready for the party?" Paul murmured in a husky voice against her ear.

"Hmmm? And hour maybe. We need to be there by ten, any earlier would be a faux pas and any later would be rude. Garritt gets mad if I get there too soon, because it's less fun ditching who he's talking to and making a big deal about it if no one's there yet."

Paul nipped her shoulder lightly and flipped her around so that she was straddling him. Cassie was a little surprise he would be interested when Jack was right there, but Paul merely braced his arm under her hips and stood up, walking them both to the other side of the suite. All of her things and the ones she had bought for Paul had been hung up, so Paul just kicked the door closed with his foot and dropped her down on the bed.

He kissed her, incredibly gently at first, but then with growing passion as she pulled at him. Paul kicked off his shoes and peeled off his shirt before following her down, his heavy body supported on his elbows and knees. Cassie hooked a leg over his hip, trying to coax him closer and Paul let her pull his weight down to rest his hips against hers. He must have smelled her arousal from earlier, because he was already hardened, already breathing deeper as he kissed his way across her collarbone and up her throat.

"You smell so fucking good, Cass," Paul whispered sexily, and Cassie smiled.

"You always say that when I'm not wearing perfume," she teased. "I think my body odor turns you on, Paul Coho."

"You turn me on, Cass," Paul rumbled back, kissing her again and very carefully shifting his hips against hers. He was so gentle, even more so than before they had talked the other day, and Cassie wondered just how hard it was for him to be like that. His body felt great against hers, and even though Cassie wasn't a big fan of sex, she was pretty used to having it. The last couple weeks had been a little hard, especially for someone who was used to sex at least every three days or so. So when Paul's body rubbed her just right, she moaned encouragingly and gripped him tighter.

"Cass?"

"Hmmm?"

"Can I tear your clothes off if I promise to do it really nicely and really slowly?" Paul wondered, and she felt his lips curl against her skin when she nodded consent. There was no tearing, but her John Deere belt hit the floor and her shirt and shorts were quick to follow. Paul lingered on the cowboy boots, but they were tossed too, and then Paul was nuzzling at her bra. Cassie reached behind her to unclasp it, then settled back into the bedding, stretching luxuriously under the hands that were sliding over her body. His mouth kissed patterns over her breasts, teasingly avoiding her nipples until she was starting to wiggle beneath his attentions, her arousal rising. And then as his tongue lightly flicked over her left nipple, his breath warm and moist across her skin, Paul slipped his fingers beneath the edge of her thong.

Cassie liked foreplay, was used to most guys attempting a little, but the truth was that most adult men used it as a means to an end. Foreplay helped get the mood going, but they were looking for sex, and as soon as the girl seemed ready and willing, they moved on to the fun part. But Paul must have had no intentions of sleeping with her this afternoon, because he settled into the foreplay like it was the end result he had hoped for. Cassie learned that he was a quick learner, and that a wolf was the kind of lover you wanted, one who paid attention to every sigh, every breath, every inaudible moan. She was hard to please, and spent more often than not faking that pleasure, but after fifteen minutes of paying very close attention to detail, Paul had her trembling and clinging to him, her face buried in his bicep.

"Cass?" Paul murmured against her breastbone as his fingers continued to lightly stroke her. "Can we do more?"

Sometimes Paul asked the silliest questions. "Paul, if we _don't_ do more," Cassie panted, "I think I might rupture something. Rupturing is bad. Orgasms are good, though, if you'd like to do one of those. The sooner the better, actually." He chuckled and kissed his way down her stomach, slipping her thong off as he moved down the bed. Cassie shivered in anticipation, and then groaned as his large hands gripped her knees and tugged them apart, his breath ghosting over her thighs.

"What's the fun in that Cass?" Paul asked, lapping at her lightly. Cassie moaned and arched into his hold, but his hands on her knees held her in place. "Drawing it out is the best part." And draw it out he did. It was almost like he could smell when she was close, and he would back off just enough to keep her from pushing over the edge, leaving her mewling incoherently. She was getting louder, not deliberately, but the closer she came to finishing and the more he withheld that from her, Cassie couldn't help herself. She was practically gasping his name when Paul finally sat up and unzipped his pants, and then he snatched her up into his arms, dragging her up and down his length. The feel of him against her but not inside of her was too much to bear, and she came hard, clinging to him almost painfully.

"Easy Cass," Paul murmured, running his hands up and down from her hips to her shoulders, easing her down into the bed. He was still rock hard against her stomach, but when she went to return the favor, Paul stopped her, re-zipping his pants, albeit with a touch of a grimace.

"Paul, I can-" she offered but he just kissed her, his tongue sliding over hers and sharing the taste of her between them. It was intimate in a way that Cassie wasn't used to, and she shivered when he deepened his kiss.

"Later, Cassie, right now I have a point to prove," he told her, and it almost sounded like a growl. Cassie didn't understand, but she did understand that he wasn't finished with her yet when he flipped her over on her stomach and started over. The second one was even harder than the first for her, nearly impossible, but Paul seemed to instinctively understand that if he kept his chest to her back and his mouth to her neck and his hands _everywhere_ that she would break eventually, her body unable to not give him what he wanted. He eased her back down a second time, massaging her limbs as she panted and tried to slow her racing heart. Paul rolled her over onto her back and she smiled and opened her mouth to speak, but he bit her. Hard. This time it wasn't the back of the neck, it was on her thigh, where her own moisture still was, and as Cassie yelped in pain, he sucked hard on the spot.

She had told him that she didn't like rough, he knew why, and it both hurt and angered Cassie that Paul would do that, but her mouth shut a second time when he shifted over her body, caramel eyes hard.

"I'm not going to interrogate you, Cass," Paul said in a low voice, "Because you matter way too fucking much to me to do that to you. I _know_ you're being faithful, I can smell it on your skin, but this whole suite reeks of Roman being in it recently, and you're _mine_. If that's not what you want, you better tell me now before I either kill him or get my heart broken. Do you want me, Cass, and only me? Or are we still back in your kitchen playing games like that first night because you're still bored?"

Cassie stared up at him in shock and growing dread, but she nodded, whispering yes she only wanted him, and no, he wasn't a game. She said it in Russian without thinking, but he understood. Paul kissed her again, this time just as gently as before, but Cassie was tied to Paul and she could feel the swell of his anger wash over her. It faded as he pushed himself off of her and headed to the bathroom, saying over his shoulder, "Next time, Cass, _I'm_ picking the hotel."

Two floors below them, Roman glanced at the listening device he had been expressly forbidden by his employer to plant in her suite and frowned. What the hell was _that_ supposed to mean?

* * *

The storm was picking up again, but the Alpha wolf still hadn't moved. The Beta was pacing in the background, watching, worrying, waiting as the rain began sheeting down. Embry's eyes were pitch black, and had been for hours. He had fought the wolf, but the wolf was winning, and this time the Alpha wasn't stepping in to help him. The wolf was winning and if it remained that way, the Alpha's brother would be dead by dawn.

Two hundred miles away, a girl with a broken arm sat in a shower, sobbing because deep down she knew she had been right all along.


	16. Chapter 14

A/N You guys can't be too mad at me that it took a couple extra days to post, because this chapter is huuuuge. And I didn't split it up like last time. :) Just a reminder that this fic is rated M, and the violence and sexual references in this chapter are part of the reason why. Big thanks to my reviewers: _pinkshirt, Jacobleah, SugarSweetCutie, saraneedsahobby, hugglesbunny, MadToTheBone1, EnglishVoice, The bunny always dies first, Roonani, cylobaby, Manna1, TwilightHeart21, Buffyk0604, LexaBrooke, Miss Bear, sisicloud, dixonmichiah, Negrinha, LightIsPrecious, hilja, ally leigh, KerryH, mcc3654, SARAH DB, TeffieS, esoteric desideratum, ariel1200s, LucyPenny, toalli, LadyMonday, lilcutieissa, sep12, twiceasbold, UnderworldHybrid, _and_ laurazuleta18. _I'm going to try really hard to start updating more often again. (crosses fingers) Things of note: _Ksana_ is a Russian nickname of Ksanochka, _Syestra_ means sister, and _Mladshaya syestra_ is little sister. Thanks to _LightIsPrecious_ for the Russian translation help. ;)

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Fourteen

It was the worst storm to rage through La Push in a hundred years.

The storm tore through their lands like a spurned lover, destroying everything it touched. Tall strong trees bent before its fury, uprooting and crashing to the muddied dirt. Broken branches flung through the air, shattering windows and denting car doors. The shrieking winds pushed harder and harder, driving the people into their homes, making them huddle together and hunker down, praying for the storm's passing. Thick black clouds choked the skies into a darkness broken only by the blinding strikes of lightning, the rumbling thunder shaking the earth beneath them like an angry wet dog trying to cast them off. Rain beating across his bared shoulder blades, the young man let out a roar of fierce refusal, of infuriated rejection, rejecting the ancestors, rejecting himself. Staggering to his feet, he stood at the edge of the cliffs, the churning waters below him pulling mercilessly as he braced himself. The wolf was _winning_.

With a snarl of rage worse than that of the storm, Embry drove his own hands into wolf blackened eyes, determined to claw himself back out or die trying.

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, Cassie didn't just scream and throw things when she was angry at someone. Sometimes she made them play dress up with her.

To Paul's credit, he seemed to know he was in the dog house and submitted to the robing and de-robing with grace, if not a bit of boredom. Cassie had showered and fixed her hair and make-up, but instead of dressing, she had wrapped a short silken robe around herself and was padding about barefoot, handing Paul shirt after shirt for him to try on. He watched her with solemn caramel eyes as he changed obediently, waiting for the explosion that had yet to come. But Cassie didn't have it in her heart to yell at him, at least not the way he deserved, she was much too sad.

After all, she was going to have to break up with Paul now, and that made her want to cry a little.

He had bit her again, hard enough that it had hurt, and she couldn't allow that kind of behavior towards her person. Maybe it was a small thing, but small things could become big things, and Cassie had learned the hard way that some things just couldn't be let go. She loved Paul and she wanted to be with him instead of breaking up with him, but she wanted to feel completely safe with him more than she wanted to be with him. Without one there couldn't be the other. Cassie wasn't saying anything, simply handing him his next shirt as he leaned against the bathroom sink, arms loosely crossed. Maybe it was the way her lip was quivering, or the fact that she'd made him try on the same shirt three times, but Paul finally sighed and hooked his arm around her waist, gently pulling her close.

"You know," Paul rumbled against her temple, "I think I like the loud angry Cassie better than this one. If you're pissed that I bit you, then just tell me, Cass."

"You look better in really light or really dark colors, Paul," Cassie murmured, plucking at his shirt. "I'm throwing out the greys and medium blues, if you don't mind."

"I look better with a happy imprint," Paul countered, and he tilted his head to the side, trying to catch her eye. "Which you're not."

Cassie was quiet for a moment and then she sighed.

"Paul, why would you deliberately do something to me that you know I can't stand?" Cassie asked softly, plucking at his shirt again. Like this she barely came up to the center of his chest, and she felt extra small. She didn't like feeling small. She liked feeling big and strong and super duper. She liked super duper, it was her goal. At her question Paul sighed and walked over to the bathtub, sitting on the tiled edge so that she was taller than him. A little bit. He didn't answer her right away, but then he looked up at her and gave her an awkward little smile.

"Cass, you know how you like me, right?"

"Yeah." She loved him actually, but he was a mean biter-type person so she wasn't planning on telling him that anytime soon. Especially if she was going to break up with him over it.

"Well, I like you too. I _really_ like you," Paul told her. "I've liked girls before, but you're different, and the way I feel about you is different. Remember when we talked earlier about how I didn't want to be involved with you if I had to deal with other guys around? It's not because I'm jealous, Cass."

She raised a dubious eyebrow and he continued with a smile. "It's because I'm so jealous that I want to break every bone in every body that's ever even _thought_ about touching yours. I want to flip you around and take you until you can't even remember having been with anyone else. I want to come all over every single gorgeous inch of until you smell so much like me that even the Pack won't know if you're you or me, and I want put a fucking sign around your neck that says your mine and everyone can't even be in the same room as you without my express fucking permission."

Cassie was shocked and insulted in equal measures, but Paul just chuckled and shook his head, saying, "That's what I _feel_, baby, not what I do. Because I _don't_ own you, and I don't want to be that guy that tries to control his girl's life. I want you to be with me because I make you happy, not because of an imprint induced sense of ownership on my part. But it's fucking hard as hell to walk in a room and smell your ex all over it, Cass. So I got a little territorial, and it was wrong, and I'm sorry. There's just something about that particular guy that sets me off. I don't like how he smells."

"Roman smells bad?" Cassie asked, confused, and Paul frowned.

"He smells…" Paul trailed off, trying to think of how to describe it. "He smells like those guys in the back of the bar that no one talks to because they're scared to. He smells like cigarettes and blood and booze and sweat, and what really fucks with me is that he smells it in equal amounts. He smells dangerous and I don't like dangerous things around you. And he's the only one I've actually heard you with…shit. I just don't like him, okay?"

"You've never met him," Cassie countered, and Paul's eyes narrowed.

"Good for him. He should keep it that way," Paul growled, but when Cassie frowned at him, Paul sighed. "Sorry. But you're not being fair bringing me here, not when he was just here too. That's kind of mean, Cass."

"I didn't know it would bother you," Cassie said softly. "I wasn't trying to be mean, Paul. But before meeting you, I didn't really have many friends, people I could rely on here. I had Roman, though, and just because I'm with you doesn't mean he doesn't matter anymore. I won't let you run off my friends, and I shouldn't be punished, especially not physically, because of your insecurities."

Paul tilted his head to the side quizzically. "Cass, I nipped you on your thigh. It might bruise a little but it's not like I hit you or something."

Cassie turned from him and went back to the closet, finally having settled on a shirt for him to wear, but her avoidance of this particular issue wasn't flying with Paul. He followed her out of the bathroom, and before she reached for the proper hanger, Paul had already stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Did you get beat on, Cass?" he asked her, his voice deceptively quiet. "Is that what this is about?"

"I don't like pain, Paul, not even things like that," Cassie said firmly. "I appreciate you trying so hard to control your possessive nature, and I do understand that you aren't normal, so it's much more difficult for you than other guys. But I have rules and that's one of them."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I'm pretty, Paul. My face is pretty, my breasts are pretty, and my arms are pretty," she replied softly as she took the shirt off the hanger and smoothed it in her hands. "The rest of me can be covered easier. If I have been beat on, where do you think it was?"

Paul was silent for a moment. "It won't happen again," he finally said in a hard voice, and Paul stepped away from her, taking the shirt she handed him. Cassie glanced at him from the corner of her eye, catching the expression on his face before he turned his broad back to her, pulling the old shirt off and tossing it on the ground. His muscles rippled as he worked the new shirt on, and in watching him, Cassie softened.

"I'd rather be bruised when everyone can see than have it hidden, Paul. I didn't do it, so I have nothing to hide. And yes, I have been. He saw me dancing," she told Paul quietly. "He never missed a single show when he was in town. He would sit in the front row and watch me dance, night after night, and I would feel his eyes on me every second. It was more fun for him if I could feel him on my skin at the same time, but a leotard and tights only cover so much, and apparently 'great men know what petals to pluck before setting the flower on display'."

Paul's back was still to her, but she could see him listening intently as he tugged the shirt down to his jeans, a distressed pair that she had picked out a lot faster than the shirts.

"You buy that?" he asked her in a deep rumbling voice, and Cassie shook her head.

"No, Paul. I think that people are more beautiful if left whole than shaved away in slices. I don't want to be molded and adjusted to fit someone else. I just want to be me. I'm not the greatest girl out there, but this is the only me I have, and I want to keep me."

Paul turned around and walked to her. He was so large, he towered over her as his hands rested on her hips, the silken robe bunching beneath his fingers. "Same guy?" he asked abruptly, staring at the wall behind her head. "Same guy as at that conference?"

She nodded, and Paul grunted. Cassie smiled than and opened her mouth, saying, "You know, at least Humpty Dumpty-" But her words were cut off because his mouth was on hers, his kiss soft but demanding as he lifted her up to his height, pressing her back into the wall, but keeping his arm between the surface and her.

"You're not in pieces," he promised her. "No one broke you, you were too strong, and you don't have to worry about any of that shit now. You're mine, and I'm gonna keep you safe, Cass."

"I've figured out how to keep myself safe, Paul," Cassie assured him, resting her head on Paul's shoulder, and she smiled as she added, "But you can keep me warm if you like. You're very toasty and I'm always cold."

"It's because you're an imprint," Paul explained, nuzzling her neck with his nose. "You wouldn't be able to handle my body heat if you weren't."

"Because you're so darn hot?" she chirped cutely and Paul laughed, deciding to let the issue die. She had shared, he understood her better now, and one day he'd make sure that his imprint's demons had been put to rest. Violently. Until then he was okay with letting her smile and try to break the tension..

"You're fu…freaking a, I am." Paul's face twisted as he tried to correct his foul language and it made Cassie giggle.

"Aww, you _are_ trying," she smiled and Paul stepped away from the wall, hugging her tightly.

"Baby," he told her seriously, "The day I stop trying then you leave my ass, because you deserve better. I'm kind of a dick, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry I fucked up again."

"Language Paul," she smiled against his jaw, and Paul growled.

"Fuck," he grumbled sourly. "I always fucking forget that shit! I mean…darn it. Darn. Dang."

Cassie laughed and then kissed Paul's nose, thinking that it really was sweet how hard he tried. So what if he had messed up? She messed up all the time. It was the trying part that counted, and Paul definitely put in the effort when it came to her. "Okay, I won't break up with you," Cassie decided, much happier with life now.

"What?" Paul looked startled and Cassie grinned at his dismayed expression. "You were going to break up with me?"

"Not anymore. You should kiss me again, or let me down, because I have to get dressed," Cassie stated cheerfully. "I'll forgo the getting dressed for getting laid, but if there are no kisses and no sex, then I want to go be pretty."

"Sometimes I really can't tell if you're shallow or adorable, Cass," Paul teased and she kissed his nose again. "But you're _always_ pretty."

"Adorable, because calling me shallow is one of the rules too, and I don't want to be breaking up with you again. That hour was very sad for me, and your wolf, too. Although I think the time alone brought us together. I'm starting to really feel like your wolf is the one, Paul. Isn't that nice to know?"

"Don't I get any points for calling you pretty?" Paul asked, a little bummed and Cassie grinned, pulling his mouth to hers.

"Maybe just a couple," she whispered, tightening her legs around his waist suggestively. "But use them up quick, I've got a party to crash, baby."

Paul put his imprint back into the wall, and as he found a much better place for his imprint's robe than wrapped around her, he thought to hell with the party. It was hard to get much better than this.

* * *

"Fucking weather, man, it looks like it's headed right our way." Crouched on the floor of an abandoned building, a small wiry man spat off to the side and pointed at a picture on his phone, waggling it at the man next to him. "See this? It's a fucking hurricane."

"Bullshit," the second man said lazily from his perch on a stack of forgotten cinder blocks, idly picking at his teeth with the edge of the knife in his hand. It was a big, ugly thing that went in smooth and came back out with all sorts of interesting things still hanging on, and more than once his companions had wished he'd just buy a toothpick instead. "We don't get hurricanes up here, this is _Canada_ asshole. We don't get tropical storms in Canada."

"The hell we don't, ever heard of Nova Scotia?" the first man countered, pointing his 9 mm at the rats scurrying along the cement floor. "Atlantic hurricane, pow! Another one, pow pow!"

"Do you have to make the sound effects?" Toothpick said in annoyance. "We're supposed to be professionals here. You've killed how many people, did you say? Four? Five? And still with the sound effects. You sound like a fucking idiot."

"Says the man who can't tell a fucking hurricane from his momma's bed sheets," Hurricane smirked back, and Toothpick momentarily stopped picking, the jagged edge of the blade still in his mouth.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" he asked against the cold metal, and Hurricane smirked, flipping his gun around his finger.

"It means-"

"It means shut up, you two," the third said, casting both a disparaging glance. "How the hell am I supposed to pay attention to the signal if you two idiots won't stop talking?"

"I don't give a shit about the signal," Hurricane decided. "Let's get this job done and get out before the _hurricane_ hits." He grinned at Toothpick. "Unlike your momma, being wet ain't my thing-Fuck man! It was a fucking _joke_!"

Toothpick rose and wandered over to Hurricane, casually jerking his knife out from beside the smaller man's leg. Toothpick just smirked and lifted up the knife. A rat had snuck too close, and was now neatly skewered on the weapon. Hurricane's eyes grew wide as Toothpick very carefully pulled it and all off its insides off his knife and then wiped it off on Hurricane's shirt. Then he grinned and went back to picking his teeth, saying in amusement, "You're right. My momma _was_ a whore."

"Where the hell did you find this freak?" Hurricane snapped at the third, who just smirked.

"I come very highly recommended," Toothpick murmured, heading back to his cinderblocks. "And my recommendations would all say fuck the signal."

The third didn't answer, instead he was watching the cars rolling up to the warehouse, plump chickens stuck in a chicken coop, ripe for the picking. He fingered the gun tucked in the back of his pants and grinned. This was going to be a good night. A really good night.

He licked his lips and murmured, "We wait for the signal."

* * *

Paul was used to his imprint looking good, and he had never been the type to be particularly intimidated of women, even beautiful ones. But he had never been anywhere with Cassie when she was trying to look her best, and he was utterly unprepared for it when she walked out of their room.

Cass was wearing a skin tight white mini dress, that wasn't unusual, but the top half was draped so deeply that it left her bare from neck to almost navel, a single strap of white fabric and glittering silver running behind her neck to keep the top up enough to keep her breasts covered. Mostly. Her arms, legs, and entire back were bare except for a pair of rhinestone covered silver stiletto half boots on her feet, and her only jewelry was a pair of dangling diamond encrusted earrings in the shape of a howling wolf.

Suddenly Paul's jeans and t-shirt felt alarmingly casual.

Cassie smiled at him, her hazel eyes sparkling prettily beneath the smoky makeup on her lids, and she paused, as if knowing he needed a minute to stare. "Do I meet the requirements of accompanying you this evening, Paul Coho?" Cassie asked teasingly, "Or do I need to go change?"

Talking wasn't working so well for him at the moment, so Paul simply took her hand and pressed his mouth to the inside of her wrist, drinking her in silently.

"And so the fish fell in love with a rock, and as she flitted about, her rainbow scales gleaming in the sunlight, the rock sat still and did nothing," Jack murmured softly in Quileute and Paul rolled his eyes.

"I'm _not_ a rock," he muttered back in annoyance, and Jack's lips curved into the tiniest smile when Paul turned to a slightly confused Cassie and kissed her wrist again, saying in English, "You look gorgeous, Cass."

"Yay," she smiled prettily and skipped over to Jack, laying a little peck on the top of his head. "Feel free to use the room service. You and Sims can order anything you want, as much as you want," she said, kissing him fondly a second time. Jack ducked his head shyly, and this time Paul's lips curved into a smile.

"Even the pay per view, Cassie?" Paul teased, and Jack tipped his head to the side.

"What's that?" Jack asked in confusion and Paul grinned even bigger. Cassie had picked up the kitchenette phone to order a car for them, but Paul could see her naughty little smile, and from across the room she winked at him and gave a thumb's up. Trust his imprint to be the only one that enjoyed porn.

"The better television shows," Paul assured Jack innocently. "Just stay away from anything that involves midgets or lumberjacks." The younger wolf shuddered a little, adding under his breath, "And definitely nothing with both together."

"Is that experience talking, Paul?" Cassie giggled as she covered the receiver with her palm and Paul shuddered again.

"Jared's a freak and that's all I'm saying," he murmured.

Jack's eyes had strayed to the windows, where a light rain was starting to hit the glass. Collin had sent Paul a text earlier saying that a bad storm had hit La Push, and that Carlisle's leech had broken through the borders again, using the weather as cover. It had slipped past them and made it into Forks, but the Cullen's had taken over the hunt on their side of the treaty line. Oh, and Paul had to dance with Cassie, she had sent Collin a text of herself when she was getting ready, and Paul didn't deserve that shit at all. He better dance with her or Collin was going to try and steal her when they got home. Paul had texted back his middle finger. It had been a satisfying message.

"Car's ready when we are," Cassie chirped, and she glanced at the closed door of the other bedroom, Paul's eyes following her gaze. It had been a couple hours and Sims still hadn't immerged.

"Hey Jack?" Paul said to the older man, and Jack looked away from windows. Paul tilted his head towards the other room. "She needs to eat soon. She's too worried about Embry, and she might not want to, but sit on her and shove it down her throat if you have to. And try to make her smile if you can, I think she's forgetting how."

Jack nodded solemnly and went back to looking at the rain. Cassie smiled at Paul, and he noticed that her wolf had abandoned her. Not him, but her left earring. It had fallen out of her ear and was now caught on the edge of her dress. Paul smiled back, and he very carefully picked her earring off of her, making sure the sharp little thing didn't get hooked on the expensive fabric of the dress she was wearing.

"You have a jumper," he murmured, and Cassie laughed her soft breathy laugh as she tipped her head to the side, presenting her now barren ear. Paul had never put in a girl's earring before, and his finger and thumb looked massive and ungainly next to Cassie's tiny lobe and the delicate earring. Plus, even if she had them pierced, there was something about pushing a sharp pointy object through any part of his imprint that just left him feeling a little woozy.

"It's just an earring," Cassie chuckled when his hand shook a little, and Paul gave her an exasperated look.

"It's a miniature stabbing weapon," he replied, and she grinned when he took three tries to slip it in. "It's a _slippery_ miniature stabbing weapon."

"That's the second time I've lost it," Cassie admitted ruefully. "Will you be on earring watch for me tonight? I'm used to such heavy ones that I keep forgetting these are in."

"You're forgetting my wolf?" Paul teased, brushing a kiss against her neck before moving back a step. "How harsh."

"Oh, that's not the wolf, Paul, he's this earring," Cassie said cheerfully as she pointed at her right ear. "Steadfast and dependable, baby. The other earring is you, he keeps making runs for it from me." She sighed melodramatically and tugged her left earring. "I still like you though."

"You having an affair with my other half makes me a little unsettled, Cass," Paul smirked, and Cassie laughed again as she went back into their room for her purse and a wrap.

"Affair is much too mild of a term, Paul. We are desperately in love, your wolf and I, and we're already talking about the puppies," she said contentedly, coming back out with a purse that matched his shirt too closely to not have been deliberately chosen and a folded square of glittering cloth.

"Puppies?" he raised an eyebrow at her, and she nodded emphatically.

"I want puppies, Paul. Your wolf doesn't seem too opposed to the idea."

The wolf had been listening to their mate talk, lazily stretched out on his side and half asleep, only opening an eye when she referenced him directly. But at the mention of puppies, his tongue lolled out in a wolfish grin and he flicked an ear. If their mate wanted puppies, the wolf was happy to indulge. She was a good mate, clever along with smelling so good, and she had learned it much easier to by-pass Paul and go straight to him. The wolf had become used to by-passing Paul. Their mate's belly would look nice if fat and full of his whelp, and they could hunt much better than Paul ever gave them credit. If their mate would stop taking things to keep herself from being in heat, then the wolf would be more than happy to oblige her.

Paul started off slightly insulted but then ended up laughing. Jack was watching him with a mild amusement in his eyes, as if he had heard the conversation in Paul's head, and Cassie was watching him curiously. "The wolf said to stop taking birth control, Cass," Paul informed her with a smirk. "He'll fatten you up faster than you can blink."

Cassie actually blushed at that, and the wolf wagged his tail in Paul's head before once more slipping off to sleep.

"You're going to get cold," Paul warned her as Cassie slipped the thinnest excuse for a wrap over her shoulders and Cassie grinned impishly despite her still pink cheeks.

She grabbed his hand and sidled up close, "Of course I'm not, Paul," she told him flirtatiously. "After all, I'm wearing _you_ tonight, aren't I? And you're _very_ hot."

"I really am," Paul agreed playfully, and then stopped when he felt a deep sense of foreboding roll down his spine. He stiffened instantly, and his Packmate did the same, instinctively responding to Paul's reaction. Jack let out a soft rumbling growl, and very slowly Paul turned around, feeling the threat directly behind him. A squirrel with a splint on its tail was perched on the counter behind him, everything but the tip of its paw hidden by the coffee maker, its beady little eyes magnified through the bent glass of the coffee pot as it glared at Paul suspiciously.

"Pyatno!" Cassie scolded lightly, sweeping past Paul and scooping up the little furry thing in her arms. "No chewing on the cords, Pyatno, you'll electrocute yourself." She hugged her squirrel lovingly before making her way over to the couch. "Jack? Pyatno's had a very traumatic day, and I need you to make him feel better while I'm gone, okay? Hug him and pet him and make him feel better about himself, and maybe a few compliments. I think he's a little embarrassed about his tail."

Cassie dropped Pyatno into Jack's lap, and the squirrel froze, making a little squeaking noise of alarm as He-Who-Grabs-With-Swift-Grabbings looked down at Pyatno with serious eyes. Dangerous eyes. She-Who-Feeds-Baked-Goods had betrayed him, and the betrayal was felt deep in Pyatno's little bones.

"Your mate had odd requests," Jack murmured to Paul in Quileute as he stared at the squirrel, tipping his head to the side in a canine fashion a little too reminiscent of the wolfborn for Paul's taste. "I'm hungry," he added and Paul grimaced.

"Please don't eat it," Paul replied in similar fashion, seeing the hopeful look in Cassie's eye as Jack very carefully patted the cringing squirrel on the head. "I'm in enough trouble with my mate today as it is."

"Her clothing would suggest otherwise," Jack said with a touch of a smile as a contented Cassie returned to her wolf's side. Paul snapped his teeth playfully at Jack before he led his imprint out of the hotel suite, his arm already around wrapping possessively around her waist.

Considering how Cassie was dressed, Paul might just end up standing in front of her all night so that no one but him could admire the view. Or maybe he'd stand back and watch Cass do her thing, let her bring swathes of men to their knees and enjoy the show, after all she was going home with him tonight, that shit was guaranteed. And maybe he'd just let her bring him to his knees tonight too, and he'd get a chance to show her that a real man on his knees could do all sorts of interesting things.

After all, Paul had some work to do before he actually slept with his imprint. She wasn't very fond of sex, it was a casual thing she used as a therapy of sorts, but that wasn't what Paul wanted for her. It wasn't what he wanted for them. When he was inside her, all he wanted her thinking about was how damn _good_ it felt, and he had a lot of learning to do with her before that point. She had a lot of healing she had to do before that point, too. Puppies aside, just because Paul was the only guy who _could_ have sex with Cassie tonight didn't mean shit. His girl deserved better than that from him.

To prove his point to himself, when they stepped into the empty elevator, Paul kept his hands safely on her waist, brushing the lightest kiss he could against her pulse point. Cassie smelled very lightly of perfume, but not on her neck where the scent would be overpowering for him. Paul lifted her wrist curiously, but the perfume wasn't there either. Then he inhaled deeply and then groaned out loud. That little _minx_.

"Smell something you like?" Cassie asked archly, and Paul's hand slipped down her hips, squeezing her tightly to him as he nuzzled her bare breastbone. Cass giggled as he grinned against her skin.

"You're hiding things from me," he murmured, and Cassie slipped out of his arms right before the elevator doors opened for them on the ground level.

"You're going to be inundated with beautiful women wearing perfumes tonight, Paul," Cassie told him with a smile, slipping her arm through his and allowing him to take the lead as they walked through the hotel lobby. "Just remember when you can't smell anything else, I'm the only girl wearing it where it counts."

"Cass," Paul chuckled as he glanced down at her dress, thinking that her being short and him being tall was working out just fabulously. "I'm pretty sure everything you're wearing right now counts. What little there is counts very much. Perfumed underwear is a nice touch, though." He held the door for her and let his eyes sweep over her backside as she walked out ahead of him, thinking that she was going to be lucky if he didn't just snatch her up and haul her back upstairs.

"Who said anything about underwear?" Cassie smirked as they stepped outside under the awning, and Paul started coughing as the valets jumped to open the door of the car Cassie had asked the hotel to arrange for them. It was sleek and black, an Audi A8, and it amused Paul greatly that the driver was a familiar figure in hotel attire of the name Becca. Apparently Cassie knowing your name and your need for groceries meant that you would find extra work as often as you needed it.

"Need some water, Paul?" Cassie asked innocently as she slipped into the back of the car very gracefully, and Paul growled at her light laughter.

"I need _something_, Cass," he told her in a husky voice, not caring that Becca was smiling in the front seat or that Cassie was giggling when Paul followed her into the vehicle and dragged her across his lap. Cassie was small in his arms, soft, and she smelled so good, the hint of perfume lingering in his senses and leaving him pleasantly distracted. He wasn't so much of an oaf as to kiss her mouth senseless the way he wanted to, she looked amazing and she had put a lot of effort into doing so, and he didn't want to upset her. However she had been very considerate in providing plenty of other places for him to kiss, and Paul had a nice long drive down the waterfront to explore them. Maybe it was a little unsafe traveling with Cassie not in a seatbelt, but he was holding her tight and his embrace was safer than any seatbelt or roll bar in the world.

"You know, Paul," Cassie murmured as Paul nuzzled the exposed insides of her breasts, "There are plenty of _other_ things we could be doing tonight. Garritt's parties are among the best, but there are better things than champagne and snobbery on a weeknight."

"Your party, Cass," Paul told her, squeezing her a little tighter into a hug and bracing her as the driver made a left hand turn. "It's up to you. But I did put on fifteen different shirts for you tonight, so I think I at least get one pass at the buffet. There will be a buffet, right?" Paul wasn't a socialite by any means, and despite Cassie's efforts he was pretty sure that he was going to humiliate her tonight with his country bumpkin-ness, but Paul was kind of excited about the buffet part.

"Hor d'oeuvres, Paul," Cassie corrected him, snuggling closer. "There will be waiters walking around with trays of them, passing them out. The only time Garritt deviated was when he was on his Brazilian steakhouse kick, and found it fascinating to have scantily clad tanned men wandering around with skewers of roasted meat and carving knives. It was a fun party, but it became a little too phallic for even me."

"Not you," Paul teased her with a chuckle, and Cassie giggled.

"There's no need to be so one-sided, Paul. Girls have fun parts too," Cassie reminded him, and then groaned as his hand slipped up her inner thigh and he squeezed gently. Paul winked at her naughtily and squeezed a little higher.

"So I've noticed. Started noticing when I was twelve, actually," he rumbled sexily. Then he lightly swatted her hip and settled her on the seat next to him, his arm heavy around her shoulders as she leaned happily into his side. "Be good, Cass, or we aren't making this party," he warned teasingly. "Out of curiosity, is there anything I need to know to not embarrass you tonight?"

Cassie glared at him. _Cassie_ glared at _him_, and did so with such vehemence that Paul wondered if he should cringe to make her feel better. He attempted a cringe, and only managed an awkward jerking motion, but she seemed to recognize his effort. Her glare softened. "Why would you even say that, Paul?" she asked him worriedly, leaning in even closer and looking up at him with large sad eyes. "Have I ever made you think that?"

"Of course not, baby," Paul promised her, kissing her temple gently. "I just want to keep things that way."

"Be yourself, Paul," Cassie said firmly. "That's the Paul I want. And I'm going to be me, and we're going to be together, and that's that. You don't walk into a room and become a different person because the lights are different, or the music is different, or the people are different. I'm still your Cass whether I'm naked in your bed on the reservation or wearing Christian Dior in a room full of socialites. And if I've never been embarrassed of you before, I'm certainly not going to be now. I'm proud of you, Paul, and I'm proud when I get to stand at your side. I'm more proud of our bond than I have been of anything else in my life."

She was proud to be his imprint, he could see it in her eyes, even if she couldn't come out and say it directly with Becca right in front of them. Cassie looked down at her dress and picked at the hem while Paul let her words sink in. Then he did something that shocked even him as he leaned over and picked up her left hand, wrapping his large index finger around her tiny ring finger. Cassie glanced up at him in surprise, and Paul tugged her hand up between them at chest level.

"Gotcha, Cass," he told her, tightening his finger around hers and giving her a little smile. "Now you can't leave me, because this finger's mine."

"Says who?" she asked teasingly, but her voice was softly vulnerable.

"Says the guy who's proud as hell of you too," Paul informed her, and he threaded his fingers through her hair. He tugged her closer and kissed her deeply, forgetting his decision to not ruin her makeup. Her lips tasted sweet, like candy and Cassie, and he groaned and deepened the kiss. _His_. She was his, and he was one lucky bastard. He'd never let this girl slip through his fingers, and he thought his Alpha was insane for not wanting this. Paul had been insane for not wanting this. Having an imprint was…was better than _anything_ he could have possibly expected. The guys had been right, Paul never should have fought this so hard. He pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.

"I love you, Paul."

Cassie said it so softly that even his hearing almost missed the words, as if she had merely mouthed them without planning on being heard. He had never had a girl tell him that before, not and actually mean it, and he sat there for a moment just letting it settle over him. The imprint bond made him want to make her happy, it tied them together with mutual affection or singularity of purpose, it made them want to keep each other content. But love wasn't forced by the imprint, love was something that happened between people of its own accord, and if Cass loved him, it was because of _him_. Paul exhaled, realizing that he had left her hanging.

It occurred to him that he was much too much of a coward to say those words yet, not when he hadn't said them before, so he did the only thing he could think of to make her understand how he felt about her.

Paul wasn't the Alpha or the Beta, he wasn't subtle or gentle in any way imaginable and therefore had no business messing with any of the Pack bonds. But Cass was his and he was hers and he could feel her in his belly and in his heart and in every bit of marrow in his bones. He loved her too, and Paul poured that feeling into every part of him that literally pulsed for her. Skin to skin, she could feel it, and Cassie made a soft noise in her throat as Paul pushed every bit of his affection into the imprint bond, only letting it slide away when he realized that Cassie was practically thrumming against him in pleasure. Her arms were around his neck, her nails digging into his skin as she clung to him, and the Third nuzzled his mate's neck, wondering if Becca would think it disturbing if he licked her ears for a while.

"Told you that you loved me, Paul," Cassie murmured against his chest, but then she laughed her soft breathy laugh, and just like the first time he had talked to her on the phone, Paul was once more undone. Maybe saying it after showing it wasn't as hard as he thought. Maybe tonight, when he was on his knees, he'd tell her the same. Still, he had to give her something to tide her over, so Paul smirked against her skin.

"No one likes a know-it-all, Cass," he chided her teasingly before squeezing her knee. "Now fix your makeup, momma, we have a party to crash."

"It's all about looks with you," she sighed, but Cass caught his eye and they shared a little grin before she did as he had suggested. By the time they had pulled up to the party Paul's imprint was once more flawless, although if he was being honest, her messy and flawed beneath him was much better than flawless beside him any day of the week.

Cassie let Becca know they would call for the car when they were ready, and told her not to wait and to go have fun for a couple hours. Then Cassie took Paul's hand. Paul opened the door first and stepped out into the light rain. Already an attendant had rushed up with an umbrella, and Paul shook his head, wondering exactly when his life had changed to this. Then he laughed, knowing the answer. Cassie had utterly changed his entire world and he was loving every minute of it. Paul offered his imprint his arm as she followed him out of the car, looking absolutely stunning. God, he loved her.

"Ready?" she asked, practically beaming with happiness as she looked up at him, and Paul grinned down at her, winking.

"It's a party, Cass," he chuckled. "How bad could it be?"

* * *

The lowest wolf in the Pack was hungry. If the Alpha's mate didn't come out soon to feed with him, Jack was going to have to apologize to Cassie later for the disappearance of her squirrel.

Pyatno had taken refuge in Cassie's shower and was currently plotting the Pack's demise.

Samantha had isolated herself for most of the night, and while Jack was planning to do as Paul had ordered him, Jack had also been around a very long time and knew more about Alpha types than Paul. They were strong, but they needed companionship even more than the submissives did, and were only able to isolate themselves for so long. It was probably why Samantha had locked so strongly onto Embry, the first wolf she had met, and why she was currently so distraught at his absence. She was young, unused to being dominant, unused to being Pack, and the wolf that she identified the closest with she had been separated from. Samantha wasn't just worried about her lover, she was pining for her Packmate. But if given the chance she would be drawn to the rest of them, and Jack was a very old wolf. He was very good at waiting.

Except when he was really _really_ hungry.

He could make himself wait though, because Jack liked that he had a role to play in his Pack, even if it was to guard his Alpha's imprint and to pet a squirrel. The Third had been constant in his attentions to both the Alpha's and his own imprint, and it wasn't a surprise that Paul looked so harried today. He was young too, and unused to running a Pack or being sent out on Pack errands, but Jack wasn't worried in the least. He was Pack now, he had a place where he belonged, and he had a purpose. His Alpha had wanted him here, so here he was, and that was enough for him. Plus they had room service. Jack liked room service.

"What are you watching?"

He had smelled her tears stop, had heard her footsteps to the door, had felt the air shift as the door was opened, but it wasn't until Samantha wandered over to the couch he was seated cross legged on that Jack looked up. He had stripped to his waist since being left alone, and Samantha had raised a single eyebrow at his attire. Jack didn't care how many shirts or pants Rico shoved his way, the Quileute warrior had simply spent too many years of his very long life in carefully treated skins, sewn to fit him perfectly, or more often than not, nothing at all. He would never grow accustomed to the current fashions of dress, and so he had brought his own.

Jeans were confining, unappreciated, but Jack had figured that Samantha would be uncomfortable being left alone in a hotel suite with a man completely naked, so he had donned clothing more traditional. His breechclout was modest and plain, and his leggings butter soft deerskin from a doe he had run down many winters ago when she was starving and he in need of something to wear during his rare trips into the world. He was proud of his clothing, proud of his heritage, proud of the beautiful creature that had fed him and clothed him.

He was not proud of the scars that crisscrossed his bare back, but they were his, and his to bear.

Jack tilted his head to look at the girl standing behind the couch, slightly off to his left. Her face was pale and her eyes reddened, but her expression was smooth and calm. Alpha. As she should be. "I'm not sure," he admitted, "I don't watch television much, because I don't own one. The blonde one is running around, yelling a lot. He's not very stealthy for a supposed ninja."

"I wouldn't have thought of you to be an anime fan, Jack," Samantha chuckled, her eyes sweeping his back as she walked behind him and over to the far side of the couch. She settled down on it, her wet hair loose across her shoulders, and her broken arm tucked to her stomach. Samantha had showered, a process that had taken several hours if one was to believe how long the water ran in an attempt to cover her soft sobs, and she had changed as well. Workout shorts and a sports bra left enough of her skin bared that Jack could see the shallow scrapes along her arms and legs, road rash, like she had been loving or fighting in loose stones. Samantha was in pain from her arm, more than she should be, and Jack slanted a look at her, turning down the television as he shifted so that he was facing her.

"You hurt," he said quietly, and Samantha nodded.

"I banged my arm in the shower," she admitted. "Not comfy, but my own fault, I guess. Remind me next time to make a point some other way, a broken arm's kind of an inconvenience."

"When I was a child, a man with a broken arm from a battle was considered a brave warrior," Jack told her, "But a woman with a broken arm was considered a burden."

Samantha raised an eyebrow at that. "Really? And why exactly?"

"Because a dinner made with only one hand is only half as good," Jack murmured, and when a flash of indignant anger crossed her face, Jack's lips curved up slightly. "You may fetch me the fish if you'd like, the Third's imprint seems to have forgotten."

"How about I _fetch_ you the room service menu instead, old man?" Samantha smirked. The end table next to her had a stack of hotel service books, and on top was a menu, which Samantha flicked at his head. Jack caught it easily and then frowned as he looked it over. "What?" she asked. "Nothing good?"

"I can't read it," Jack replied honestly, handing the menu back to her. Samantha seemed startled, and Jack shrugged. "I can speak nearly two dozen languages fluently, but I do not wish to change my mind. It was formed this way for a reason, and I prefer to think as I was intended to, not in words scratched out in the hand of the white man. I'm not a chicken, I have no need of scratches to guide my thoughts."

"I don't understand," Samantha said curiously and Jack could see he had her attention. "Everyone thinks in words, whether you can read or not. If you're hungry, you think about being hungry."

"No, you _are_ hungry. Or you are not. It is a feeling, a way, and it is my way to be hungry often. I don't need to draw the symbol in my mind to understand the feeling. I learned a word one time, Rico taught it to me, and now every time I participate in that particular activity, instead of thinking of the feeling, I now think of the word. It is inconvenient, and I try to avoid doing repeating my mistake. The word is an activity I do often, and it is annoying."

"What word?" Samantha asked, and Jack felt the heat of embarrassment rise in his cheeks. But she was dominant, and Pack, and the Alpha's chosen mate, and it was his place to answer her. So he did. She choked a little, blushing as well, but then she laughed and when she smiled prettily at him, Jack understood the Alpha's choice. "That's…a word that I can completely see Rico teaching you. But you do that a _lot_?" Her cheeks were red, but her curiosity was piqued. "I don't think Embry even admits to that."

"It isn't uncomfortable if done properly," Jack assured her. "And I am good at it. That is why Rico felt it a proper word to teach me."

"Rico's evil," Samantha reminded him with a grin. "Just saying. I would have taught you 'cold' or 'warm' or 'wolf' or something like that instead. But that word…it's a big word anyways."

"He wanted to make sure the experiment was done properly," Jack shrugged. "I haven't done it as much since. Unfortunately. I used to really like that," he added a touch petulantly.

"God, how does that even become a feeling…?" Samantha asked before scrunching her nose. "Never mind. I don't want to know."

"Embry or the Alpha could show you if you're interested, possibly both at the same time," Jack said helpfully, causing Samantha to begin coughing violently.

Samantha must have decided that they should change the subject, because she grabbed the controller and turned up the volume very loudly. "Gee, that Naruto. He's sure spunky, huh?"

Jack smirked. He should have thought up an even dirtier word.

* * *

They were fashionably late, but not rudely so. At least, not if they made it inside and greeted the host in the next four and a half minutes.

Cassie stepped out of the car, her hand lightly resting on Paul's bicep as the attendant with the umbrella ran up to them, and she smiled at Paul reassuringly before turning her gaze to the sight in front of them. Garritt's parties were the best, legendary sometimes, but they could be a bit overwhelming if you weren't used to them. This time he had decided to rent out an old brick warehouse building down by the waterfront, several stories tall and frighteningly dark looking if it hadn't have been for the excess of lighting that had been used to illuminate the entire face of the structure. A brightly lit yacht had been tied to the pier leading from the building, although as the storm continued to rise, it was obvious that the party had been moved inside the warehouse.

It was a security nightmare, that was the first thing that occurred to Cassie. Several other buildings were within feet of the warehouse, all of which were only dimly lit with exterior street lights, and there were simply too many windows and doorways that were cast into total darkness from the warehouse's lights. No wonder Roman had been gnawing at his liver when she had talked to him this morning before driving to La Push. He had promised her that he would be here, but that she wouldn't see him. If she did, then she needed to _run_.

The expressionless way Roman had told her that had made Cassie shiver at the time, but from her place at Paul's side, his huge warm body angled in front of her protectively as he took in their surroundings, it was hard to feel the worry she had felt then. A line of cars in front of theirs and behind, beautifully dressed men and women climbing out, and a few bodyguards looking just as annoyed as Roman had that morning. This was a Garritt party. This was a chance to enjoy herself and have a good time. Part of the appeal of Garritt's parties were that he absolutely despised having security stuffed in between the party goers, and with only the rarest exceptions, all personal guards were to be left outside the front door. Roman had been breaking that rule for a while now, thinking that Garritt's excuse for hired security were no better than mall guards, but most socialites were glad for a night of leaving their babysitters behind, confident in the men posted around the front and sides of the warehouse.

Cassie had long since learned better.

"I can't tell if this setup is creepy or cool," Paul told her, raising an eyebrow at the warehouse. Cassie chuckled and shifted closer, instinctively allowing her wolf's presence to push away any lingering doubts she had.

"Knowing Garritt, it's supposed to be both," Cassie informed her date, very subtly shifting against Paul's arm in the direction they should go but waiting for him to take the lead. Could she grab him by the hand and drag him around like he was her puppy tonight? Of course, and if she was having enough fun, he would probably smile and let her do it. But they were in public, and Cassie was well bred, understanding her roles when under a public eye with a man she respected. Therefore she waited for Paul to get the tiny hint, and he shot her a grateful look before heading them towards the second front door, the one that didn't require a security check before entering.

Two serious looking men were standing there, their guns tucked into shoulder holsters beneath their tuxes, and they both eyed Paul intently as Cassie chirped out who she was. Cassie's name was on the list, but Paul's wasn't, although he was admitted because of being her date. Cassie preferred it that way. No need for those kinds of paper trails, she thought as she leaned against Paul's arm again, her light touch all he needed now to know exactly where they were expected to go. Paul whistled quietly when they stepped past the security guards and into the warehouse. The main room was huge, wrapped with a deep balcony, and the whole interior had been filled with very industrial looking light fixtures, albeit dimmed to a proper level to give the whole building an effect of being after hours.

Paul hesitated a moment before stepping deeper into the room, looking around curiously.

Long poured cement bars were lined with bartenders ready to mix drinks, half of them spinning their bottles skillfully and causing the gathered partygoers to laugh and clap for them. The center of the warehouse floor was covered with large pieces of textured black rubber, pricked with holes every inch and laid over a lighting source so that the rubber sparkled, and it was already filled by people dancing. Everywhere attractive men in torn jeans and unbuttoned flannel shirts and pretty young women in equally torn jeans shorts and flannel shirts tied beneath their breasts were walking around with diamond plated metal trays, easy to spot by their hardhats and strategically placed reflective tape. One of the men saw the entrance that they had come in and made a beeline for Cassie and Paul with a tray of champagne.

Paul leaned over, his mouth near Cassie's ear. "He looks like he's one of the Village People," Paul smirked and Cassie snickered before graciously accepting a glass. Paul declined the offered champagne, more interested in watching the bartenders make drinks than having one of his own. They had been spared the hardhats but reflective tape gleamed under the light as bottles were thrown up into the air and caught deftly on forearms, balanced and flipped again. "They're really good," Paul added a touch enviously.

"You're welcome to flip a bottle of beer in Joe Carter's face if you want, Paul," Cassie chuckled, sipping her champagne and casually checking out one of the waitresses walking past. "I would fully support you in the learning of the skill. That girl was adorable."

"Just when I think I don't have to worry about other guys, you remind me the battle is only half won," he teased her, wrapping an arm around her waist as they moved deeper into the masses. It was the calm before the storm, and Cassie was enjoying the moments spent alone with Paul immensely. He slanted her a curious look. "Hey Cass? Since we've met, have you…?"

"Of course," she smiled up at him and when Paul blinked, she grinned. "You look surprised."

"I've just never smelled it on you," he murmured, and Cassie laughed, sidling up closer to him.

"Ever thought it was odd that I was wearing two perfumes at once, Paul?"

He nodded, thinking back. "Yeah, but…oh. _Oh_."

"Exactly," she smiled as she sipped. "Garritt always has such good taste in champagne. Speaking of which, brace yourself."

"Brace myself for what?" he asked and then was cut off by a very loud voice bellowing across the music.

"Ksanochka Ivanovna Fedorova, _you little whore_!"

Paul immediately bristled, rage rolling up his spine in a wave, but Cassie was laughing as an absolutely huge man pushed his way through the crowd. Paul was huge in bone structure and muscle tone, but Garritt was huge in sheer mass, and the crowds parted before him like water as he headed straight for Cassie and Paul. Close to three hundred pounds of flesh and bone descended upon them, lackeys in tow, and Cassie wisely tugged on Paul's arm warningly as Garritt bellowed again.

"Ksanochka Ivanovna Fedorova, not only are you a _whore_, you little skank, you are also a _cruel_, _uncaring_, _self_-_indulgent_ whore who simply does not care how much sweat and tears and heartache goes into each and every one of my parties! And how you could _possibly_ suggest that there would be _any_ reason that you could miss not one but possibly even _two_ just means that you have taken whore to a whole new level of sluttiness! You terrible, horrible, ankle by your ears—Oh, _hello_."

Garritt paused mid-sentence as Paul snarled and quite firmly put himself between their host and Cassie, and unfortunately brought Garritt's full attention on himself. Their host looked Paul up and down, and then suddenly flashed Paul a huge grin. "You brought the man candy, Ksana, and he's wearing _me_ too," Garritt purred, sidling up to Paul very similarly to how Cassie usually did it. "You're _entirely_ forgiven."

"See? Don't you love me, Garritt?" Cassie said cheerfully, and Garritt poked his head around Paul's arm and gave her a thumb's up.

And then Garritt groped Paul. Thoroughly.

Cassie smiled and took a sip of her champagne, thinking that her poor wolf had just put himself in quite a predicament. Paul wasn't a complete jerk. Even though it was obvious the insults to Cassie had infuriated him, he was aware that this was her friend and she was laughing at Garritt's outburst, and there was a whole room full of people eagerly watching the exchange. Did he want Garritt's pudgy fingers tugging at his buttons? Not really. It was written all over his face, and he had made a strategic mistake in stepping forward. Now he couldn't back down.

Garritt was going to eat him alive.

"Oh, Ksana, where did you _find_ this one?" Garritt asked, squeezing Paul's bicep, and making the wolf let out a strangled noise. "He's all growly, like I've been bad for insulting you. I can call her much worse things than a whore if you'll growl at me again," Garritt offered, stepping closer and making his own little animal noise. "I can be very _very_ bad when I try hard."

Cassie laughed again when she saw Paul trying to decide if he should cut his losses and back away, and when he threw her a desperate look for help, she stepped around and put her hand in his. "Be good, Garritt, Paul only growls at me when _I'm_ bad," Cassie grinned, "But if you ask me nicely, I might let you stare at him tonight."

"Ksana, _everyone's_ going to be staring at him tonight," Garritt sighed happily, before turning back to her. "You're still a whore, though, and my absolute _favorite_ one."

"The sentiment is mutual, Garritt," Cassie laughed, hugging her friend tightly. She had known Garritt a long time, they had met at the Milan fashion week when she was sixteen and an upcoming dancer and he a young designer just getting his feet in the door. He had never missed a single one of her state side performances and Cassie had worn and recommended his clothes as often as possible. Just because he was internationally known these days didn't mean that Garritt wouldn't let her off the hook. Her dress was his, especially designed for tonight, and he cast a discerning eye over her before smiling.

"You're actually filling it out," Garritt laughed, and Cassie did a little pirouette playfully, shaking her rear end for her friend's benefit. "I thought you were lying about gaining weight."

"I'm trying to grow a honky tonk badonkadonk," Cassie informed him brightly, glancing over her should at Paul, who was shaking his head. She grinned at him and shook her rear again. "Paul thinks I'm a waif, so he keeps feeding me. Isn't that nice of him?"

"You look stunning, Ksana," Garritt promised her, kissing her cheek. Then his eyes flitted from Paul to Cassie to their connected hands, and his smile grew. "So he's why you can't ever call me back anymore? I would be mad if he wasn't so beautiful."

"See Paul? I told you that you would like Garritt."

"You said that Garritt would like me," Paul reminded her, stepping sideways so that he was very much not in the way anymore. Both Cassie and Garritt grinned at him, and Cassie's old friend slipped his arm through hers.

"So, I have a surprise for you," he told her with a sly look and Cassie poked him in the side, looking guilty at Paul.

"Be good," she hissed, "He doesn't know."

"I don't know what?" Paul asked, raising an eyebrow, and Garritt grinned.

Their host turned, gesturing grandly towards the far side of the warehouse. "You see that very large, very fabulous multi-tiered, very Russian inspired cake on that stand in the corner?" Cassie was much shorter than the two men and couldn't see, but Paul glanced over in the direction Garritt was pointing and nodded.

"The one guarded by two scantily clad and completely unrealistic construction workers?" Paul asked with a smirk. "Yeah, I see it."

"Be nice, Paul," Cassie chided when Garritt's face fell.

"They're unrealistic?" Garritt asked sadly, and Cassie patted her friend's arm, mouthing 'be nice' at her wolf, who seemed to have taken far too much pleasure from his passive aggressive revenge. Paul winked at Cassie, and then nodded very solemnly at Garritt.

"Have you ever tried to build a house or tear one down with your shirt off?" Paul asked Garritt seriously. "The construction dust coats your pores, and makes you itch like hell. Either those guys need to start scratching, or button up their shirts."

Garritt stared at Paul suspiciously, and then glanced at Cassie, who merely shrugged. She had no idea about the technicalities of construction work. She had always assumed that walking around shirtless was just what construction workers did, but she had never built something herself, so she wasn't an expert. Maybe she should build something just to learn how to do it?

"He knows more than me," Cassie said, sipping at her champagne again. She had needed to take some pretty strong painkillers earlier today to manage her leg pain, but she was with Paul, and even if the combination of the lingering medicine and the alcohol left her silly, she knew he had her back. It was a wonderful feeling, and she gave him a trusting smile. Paul had the grace to look a touch guilty, and then Cassie giggled when Garritt ordered one of his lackeys to go make the waiters all button at least a few of their buttons.

Paul winked at her, whispering, "The party just got a little better."

"For you," she smirked back, and leaned happily into his arm, loving the fuzziness he gave her inside.

"So what don't I know?" Paul asked, nuzzling her ear briefly and readjusting the earring that had almost worked itself back out again. Cassie sighed contentedly, knowing that Garritt wouldn't keep it a secret any longer.

"It's my birthday," she replied, and at his startled expression, one quickly followed by a flash of hurt, Cassie hugged him tightly. "I'm so used to no one knowing that I didn't even think about telling you, Paul. I'm not big about my birthdays. I don't like big surprises, they make me jumpy. Small surprised are good though."

"I didn't get you anything, Cass," Paul murmured a bit sadly in her ear, and Cassie looked up at him, smiling softly.

"Paul? You gave me something a couple months ago that I wouldn't trade for the whole world," she promised. "But you can take me out for ice cream later, and buy me a vacation hat at Yellowstone. Oh! And can we go horseback riding? Or hiking? No, I suck at hiking…how about bicycling? We could get one of those cute little two seater bikes and you could steer and I could pedal," she looked up at him hopefully and saw that Paul was grinning down at her. He brushed her hair back from her brow and shifted closer.

"Hey Cass?" he said with a fond smile.

"Hmmm?"

"How about _you_ steer and _I_ pedal?" Paul suggested, his hand resting on her waist gently as he nuzzled her again. Then he winked at her, the same wink that made her almost kill them all in the Shaggin' Waggin' early that day. "I like keeping you where I can see you, momma, it makes the view so much better."

"You love me," she declared teasingly. "It's my birthday and I say so."

"Well, it's your birthday and _I_ love you, Ksana," Garritt suddenly spoke up, grinning at both of them. "And I threw this party just for me, so let's go pretend it's all for you." With that, Garritt stole Cassie away from Paul, who merely shook his head and laughed, mentioning that something was wrong with the world now that he actually could understand statements like that.

This was the part of the parties that became difficult, because Garritt was towing Cassie around, introducing her to absolutely everyone he deemed worth knowing, and in being towed, Paul was towed too. Every time Garritt introduced them, Paul looked equally annoyed and embarrassed, although Cassie found it amusing. There were worse things to be called than 'Ksanochka my dearest whoriest friend, it's her birthday, isn't she beautiful for forty-three?' and 'She calls him Paul, but I prefer Chief-not-in-my-pants-yet-but-I'm-working-on-it.' Paul managed one round around the party before cracking and quite literally dragging Cassie away, the tiny girl laughing the entire time.

"Oh my god, that's your _friend_?" Paul growled, snatching a glass of champagne from a tray and cringing as that waiter smiled at him a little too brightly. "If he calls you a whore one more time, I'm going to break his jaw, gay or not."

"What does his sexuality have to do with it, Paul?" Cassie wondered, taking her own glass and sipping it much more delicately. "If you have to break, then break, but be warned that you'll have to patch him up afterwards, because he _is_ one of my oldest friends after all. And I have to warn you, Garritt role plays with the best of them, and I'm not sure even someone as handsome as you could pull off a nurse's skirt. Ooh! Cookies!"

Sure enough, a waitress was walking past with a tray of petite chocolate dipped strawberry cookies, and Cassie happily snagged a couple. She offered Paul one and even as he ate it from her fingertips, his eyes were casting about the party goers, many of which were keeping an eye on the attractive couple in the corner that seemed to know the host intimately. Paul's frown was keeping some of them off, but it wouldn't last for long. Cassie knew at least half of the people here, and Garritt's attention had ensured that the other half at some point would try to meet them. Garritt's specific attention Paul's way had made him quite an object of interest, and Cassie giggled around her cookie as a pair of male models walked past, one winking sexily at Paul as he did.

Paul was a little bit of a homegrown type of country boy and he was having a bit of trouble with this level of attention. Cassie thought it was cute as he mumbled embarrassedly, "Are there any straight guys here at _all_?"

"If there wasn't, would that be a problem?" Cassie asked, raising an eyebrow, and Paul gave her a frustrated look as he drained the glass.

"Normally? No, not at all. That's not my thing, but to each their own. It's just that they are all staring at me like I'm…I'm a…"

"Piece of man meat?" Cassie supplied helpfully as Paul snatched another glass of champagne, tossing it down and groaning as Garritt and his followers were moving en masse their way, pausing every few feet to drink and laugh with someone new. "Girls stare at you like that all the time, Paul. I fail to see the problem. I think it's nice that you're getting the recognition that you deserve, you're a very attractive man, and just because Jacob is all kinds of hunky and Seth belongs on the cover of GQ magazine doesn't mean that you aren't insanely attractive. I'd do you," she added cheerfully, and Paul smiled at her.

"I'll hold you to that, Cass," he rumbled sexily, and Cassie sidled closer.

"You can hold me to that any time you want, Paul," she purred, and it was a sign of how off his normal game Paul was that he blushed at her comment. "Aww, you're so adorable when you're being lusted after. You get all confused and shy, I love it."

"By men, Cassie," Paul reminded her. "I get confused when I'm lusted after by _men_."

"The women want you too, Paul," Cassie promised, and she hooked the hand of a young woman passing by. The woman looked both pleased and startled to be talking to them, and she blushed prettily when Paul looked at her. "Excuse me, Charlotte, right? We met in Los Angeles last fall?"

"Umm…Yes?" Charlotte said, glancing in between Paul and Cassie as Cassie handed her a cookie off of her stack and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Well, my husband here is uncomfortable about his attractiveness to the same sex, and he needs outside reassurance that he's worth laying with to a woman. You know, in the biblical sense."

Charlotte blinked and Cassie grinned. "Don't worry, you don't have to lay with either one of us in the biblical sense, because at that point there's probably not going to be much biblical about it, or at least not in any verse I ever read. So what do you say? Doable? Not doable? So darn sexy you want him to tear your clothes off and take you right here, right now, no matter who's watching?" Cassie asked cheerfully as Charlotte giggled and Paul stared at her in disbelief.

"I would have to say the last one," Charlotte admitted, and Cassie sighed around her cookie.

"Yeah. Me too," she eyed him lustfully and then let her arm drop from Charlotte's waist. "Thanks, Charlotte. See, Paul? You're even a taken man, and you still can get the ladies all riled up." Charlotte gave Paul a look quite similar to the one Cassie was giving him and then she giggled again and slipped away.

"We're married now?" Paul chuckled, reaching for her, and Cassie sighed happily, leaning into his embrace as he added, "Most newlyweds wait until later to become swingers."

"Didn't you know?" Cassie asked him innocently, tucking her hands into his front pockets to warm them. "Your wolf and I got married earlier today. We would have invited you but it was a private ceremony, and only close friends and family were allowed. It was beautiful, I wore white, he licked my neck, the wedding night promises to be amazing…Speaking of which, Paul, when you finger proposed earlier, I never gave you an answer. I finger accept. You'll have to forgive my prior commitments to your wolf, but I'm sure we can work out an arrangement that will make everyone happy. Plus I think that it won't actually be polygamy to marry your boyfriend's multiple personalities."

Paul was silent a half moment longer than normal, a sign he was conversing with someone other than her, and then he busted out laughing, passing on the message. "He says that you smelled very good during the ceremony, and that when you're hungry, he'll catch you a nice fat rabbit as a wedding present. I can't believe he's playing along with it."

"Play nothing, we're married," Cassie said firmly, and Paul smiled against her neck.

"Whatever you say, baby," he murmured, and then he groaned. "Cass? He's coming back."

"Who?" she asked, looking around and catching Garritt's eye. Her friend grinned and made a beeline for them this time, no interruptions. "Our lovely host who's trying to steal your man-ginity?"

"_Yeah_," Paul moaned, wrapping his arm around Cassie's waist and hugging her tightly. Almost like she was a five foot tall life preserver, here to save him from drowning into a new sexual orientation. "And he's coming _back_, Cass. We escaped but he found us."

"Of course he did," Cassie chuckled. "You ran away, Paul, don't you know anything about playing cat and mouse?"

"I'm a fucking _wolf_, Cass. I _eat_ the cat and pick my teeth with the mouse." Cassie blinked at that picture, but then grinned devilishly as Garritt honed in on Paul. Her wolf wasn't used to this, wasn't used to having a group of people this big orient themselves around him, and it was obvious that his hackles were up over it. But Cassie liked parties, and if she could play nice with his friends, he could play nice with hers.

And really, Garritt _was_ behaving himself, because Paul hadn't been groped against his will a single time. Well, except for the first time, but that was stock standard with Cassie and her old friend. Cassie had made a habit of not even introducing herself before groping Garritt's dates, although he was surprisingly going single that night. Sure she could have warned Paul, but he teased her enough that she was allowed to tease him back a little. Only Paul wasn't going to want to come to anymore parties with her if Garritt teased him too much, so Cassie decided to have sympathy on her wolf.

Cassie waited until her friend stepped right up to them and opened his mouth, and then she said very sweetly, "Garritt? I don't think Paul likes our game." Cassie grinned, heading off the designer's predatory gaze. She had Garritt had a long standing habit of trying to steal each other's dates, and so far he was winning by three. "We can chalk this one up to a draw, because I don't want to go home alone either. And I know you put his picture back up on your website, so that needs to go back down."

"Oh, that's no fun," Garritt grumbled, sighing sadly as he eyed Paul one last time. "If you insist, Ksana, but I think I could have won this one. The ones that run away usually are so _good_ at doubling back."

"I'm missing something here," Paul mumbled, and Garritt brightened. After being introduced as Garritt's hopeful conquest to at least a hundred strangers, Paul had grown oddly reticent, even for him.

"Oh! Tall, dark, and handsome does talk!" their host exclaimed. "And here I thought his tongue was only for more deviant uses."

There were more strangled noises coming from Paul, and Cassie hugged him affectionately. "See?" she said happily, feeling her buzz growing each time she touched Paul. "And you thought _I_ was bad."

"You are," Paul murmured, although she could see it with him too. Each time she shifted towards him, Paul was already halfway to meeting her, and every time they touched, even Paul couldn't help but smile. "You're bad, Cass, he's just worse," he promised fondly, adjusting her earring again so that it didn't slide out.

"Of course he's worse, who do you think taught me-" Cassie trailed off as she caught sight of someone across the crowds behind Garritt. It was a girl, slender as a reed and even shorter than her, pale blonde hair coiffed neatly up into a twist. She was dressed in black, her gown very similar to Cassie's, but floor length and much more modestly cut. Her wrists and ears sparked with diamonds, and her posture was properly soft and demure, the epitome of feminine breeding. A young, severe looking blond man in a suit and an earpiece followed at the girl's heels, hard blue eyes locking on Cassie as the girl noticed her too.

All Cassie saw were excited hazel eyes and a huge smile spreading across pretty lips.

"Surprise, Ksanochka," Garritt chuckled, and stepped out of the way. "I flew your sister out here for your birthday. Aren't I wonderful?" Oh, he _definitely_ was.

"Ani!" Cassie let out a delighted cry, pulling away from her wolf as Garritt whispered to Paul that they had just been abandoned. There were a lot of people watching, but Cassie didn't care as she flung herself through the crowd, practically pushing people out of her way. Then she threw herself on the girl, who had raced her way too, and the two of them nearly fell they collided so hard. The blond man steadied them both, looking on with the tiniest touch of a smile, which fell away instantly as he stepped between an approaching Paul and the two girls.

"Syestra!" the girl cried excitedly, hugging Cassie around the neck as if she would never let her go, and Cassie was just fine with that.

"Mladshaya syestra," Cassie laughed back, holding her younger sister tightly. She hadn't seen her one and only sister in almost a year now, it had been far too dangerous to be around her, and the separation had nearly broken Cassie's heart. Cassie stepped back and looked at her. "Ani, you're so beautiful now! I can't believe you're here!"

Ani laughed in return, her eyes sparkling, and she hugged Cassie again. "Well of course I am. I wouldn't miss today, and you know that, Ksana! You're twenty five, of course I wouldn't miss that. Oh, I missed you though!"

"I missed you too, Ani," Cassie whispered, feeling tears well up in her eyes. Ani saw and smiled, her own tears welling up, even as the younger girl wiped Cassie's tears away. She switched into Russian, saying, "I missed you so much, and I'm so sorry I've been gone from home so long. I don't want to be, but things…things got so complicated back there. I didn't have a choice, Ani."

"Koldan says you have your reasons," Ani replied softly, glancing at the man in front of them. "And he's never lied to me before. But you're so far away and no one will tell me why."

Cassie couldn't answer Ani's questioning look, so instead she hugged her sister again, and in doing so laughed, because she loved Ani more than anything in the whole world, possibly more than Paul. Or maybe they were equal in her love. Cassie had a lot of love inside her that she had no problem at all splitting between the two of them. Speaking of which… "Ani, I want you to meet someone," Cassie said happily, grabbing her younger sister's hand and turning around. Then she froze. "Uhh oh."

Uhh oh was right. Uhh oh, because Paul might be holding himself back, but he was staring at Ani's body guard furiously, and Koldan was between Paul and Cassie. No one stood between Paul and Cassie, not in Paul's world. Paul was glaring at Koldan and Koldan was glaring at Paul, and both men looked ready to spring at a moment's notice.

Ani giggled.

"I think they don't like each other," she snickered, and Cassie and her shared an identical grin.

"My money's on Paul," Cassie chirped brightly, and Ani shook her head emphatically.

"Oh no, my money's on Koldan. He's very strong."

"But Paul's very strong and very fast, too," Cassie countered, smirking at Paul, who was becoming slightly distracted by her and her sister's commentary. Not distracted enough to not be able to tear Koldan's arms out of their sockets before he was able to draw one of the several weapons hidden on his person, but still slightly distracted.

"Koldan's strong and fast and very handsome," Ani said loyally, and at her last words the blond man twitched a little.

"Ooooh, Koldan and Ani, sitting in a tree," Cassie teased, noticing Koldan's reaction, even if the man was trained on Paul. "You guys are going to have to make room because Paul and I are doing much more than kissing up on our limb. Paul's not only strong and fast and handsome, but he's virile too. Ani, do we know if Koldan's virile?"

"Not yet, but gosh, have I been trying," Ani giggled, and Koldan groaned, shooting the younger Fedorova sister an annoyed look when she added, "Since I'm only still seventeen, he won't let me find out yet."

"Koldan never was very good at breaking the rules," Cassie sighed. "He used to run the young men away from my window every night," she said nostalgically, and Ani grinned.

"He doesn't let them in the compound anymore," Cassie's sister snickered. "He's got daddy convinced that my virtue is in danger if I so much as _look_ at a boy."

"They do have cooties, even the strong, fast, handsome, virile ones," Cassie nodded sagely, and she winked at Paul, who was starting to look amused now that Koldan was growing increasingly annoyed. "You can look at Paul all you want, Ani. Or I can introduce you to one of his friends. Collin's gorgeous, and he actually smiles every now and then. There's more than one limb on the kissing tree, you might want to trade up branches."

"You may kill them if you want," Koldan suddenly told Paul in a heavily accented voice as he stepped aside and took his place again slightly behind Ani. He leveled both girls with a flat look. "It would do them good."

"Don't get between me and her again," Paul rumbled back in a dangerous growl, moving to Cassie's side and wrapping an arm tightly around her waist. Koldan raised an eyebrow, and then narrowed his eyes as Cassie shared a smirk with Ani.

"Mine can piss further than yours, Ani," Cassie declared cheerfully, and Ani shook her head vehemently.

"Not at all, syestra," Ani said with utmost faith. "Daddy would never have let me come here with Koldan unless we were all absolutely certain he could piss further. Right, Koldan?" She smiled sweetly at Koldan, who ignored her, before turning her smile to Paul.

Cassie knew just how devastating that smile could be, because when Ani smiled, it lit up the whole room. She was sweet and honest, and despite her penchance for teasing those she loved, Ani didn't have a mean or hurtful bone in her body. She was all the things that Cassie wanted for the world, and preserving that smile had been one of the reasons that Cassie had fled Russia. It was one of the reasons that her father's head of security was here, and not with her father, because Ani was the family's pride and joy and protecting that innocence was more important to them than anything.

Protecting Ani was one of the few things Cassie actually had in common with her mother anymore.

Paul was smiling back at Ani, and Cassie thought her face might break she was beaming so widely. "Paul, this is my mladshaya syestra, my little sister, Ania," Cassie introduced proudly. "Ani, this is my…"

What was he? What was he that she could say that could possible explain how much he meant to her? Koldan had been keeping one eye trained on Paul and one eye sweeping the surrounding building, but at her hesitation, Koldan's attention fastened completely on Paul. Cassie blushed a little as Paul looked her, and she whispered, "He's the only Paul I'll ever get."

And Ani's smile might be amazing, but in that moment, Paul's was like the sun.

* * *

"We're supposed to wait for the signal."

"To hell with the signal, they're all drunk down there anyways, let's get this shit rolling."

"What do you think?"

Silence, then laughter. "Fuck the signal. It's go time, boys."

* * *

The lights were dimmed enough that Cassie barely noticed them rolling into darkness before flickering back on.

She wasn't drunk, having Ani there had made Cassie nearly forget anything else but her, and it was that distraction rather than inebriation that made her not pay attention to the lights or the growing storm outside. Plus she had Paul as her side, and Ani had Koldan, and between Paul and Koldan, this whole place could blow over and Cassie was pretty sure she and her sister would walk out without a scratch. She had introduced Koldan to Paul, although the two were obviously less than fond of each other. Paul could instinctively recognize dangerous men, probably why Roman's scent bothered him so much, and Koldan was equally if not more dangerous than Roman was.

Koldan had been working for her father since he was Ani's age, and he had quickly risen to his position as head of security. He might not speak much, but he was sharp as a razor and his eyes missed nothing. He recognized Paul dangerousness as well, and Koldan never took his eye off of Paul, not even when Paul was standing there, his arms around Cassie's waist as Cassie and Ani laughed and teased and told stories to try to make their serious dates smile and break off from eyeing each other.

Every once in a while Ani could coax a flicker of a facial expression out of Koldan, and each time Cassie grinned, knowing exactly their father's right hand man's weakness. Koldan was in his mid-twenties, Cassie's age, and his behavior had always been above reproach, but Koldan had slipped at least three of his men into this party, much to Garritt's annoyance, and even if Koldan was posing as Ani's date, it was obvious he was her body guard. He was there for work, not for pleasure.

It was more obvious that Paul didn't like the idea that Ani needed a bodyguard at her side and three more in the shadows, and Cassie knew her wolf. He was going to ask her why as soon as they were alone. Not relishing that thought, Cassie lost herself in enjoying her sister's company. Ani told Cassie everything that she had missed at home, and sometimes Cassie found herself listening just for the pleasure of her sister's voice instead of for what she was actually saying. Snuggled up in Paul's embrace, munching on a piece of her cake, Cassie was offering a bite to Paul when Ani's enthusiastic voice suddenly spoke up.

"Oh, and I saw Afon before I left," Ani said excitedly. "He told me that I was supposed to wish you a happy birthday, Ksana."

She wasn't expecting it, so Cassie wasn't able to stop the shudder that went through her. Paul's arms tightened and he glanced down at her curiously. Cassie smiled quickly and snuggled deeper into his arms. "It's cold," she murmured, and Paul chuckled, rubbing her forearms.

"Syestra's always cold," Ani laughed. "She normally won't ever say anything about it, but she used to always be the one dancing in sweats when everyone else was in leotards."

"Ania," Koldan said reproachfully, but Cassie smiled.

"It's okay, Koldan," Cassie reassured the Russian man. "Ani knows me too well, I was a little ice cube." Koldan nodded faintly, eyed Paul again and then turned his attention back to the crowds. Unlike Ani, Koldan wasn't innocent. He knew exactly why Cassie was here, but his loyalty was to the family as a whole, not to her as a person. It wasn't that he wasn't willing to help her, it was that he couldn't, not and keep the rest of her family safe. When a deal was made with a devil, sometimes a sacrifice was required.

At least it hadn't been Ani.

Ani gave Koldan a faintly annoyed look and shook her head. "He always gets like that when I talk about your dancing, like it is taboo."

"I miss it," Cassie told her sister gently, giving Koldan an appreciative smile. "Sometimes talking about the good times makes you miss them too much and feel bad instead of feeling happy. I'm making new memories now, Ani, and they're better ones. I have a Winnebago now," she added brightly.

"What is that?" Ani asked eagerly, and Paul suddenly laughed.

"It's an abomination," he chuckled, and Ani blinked at his word choice. Realizing she wasn't as fluent as Cassie was, Paul described it for her, politely leaving out the truck balls. Cassie made sure to remind him of that because the balls were her favorite part. Cassie's detailed description had Ani giggling naughtily and blushing guiltily as she kept glancing at an annoyed looking Koldan.

"Must you corrupt her?" Koldan muttered, and Cassie shared an amused look with Paul.

"I'm her big sister, Koldan," Cassie said with a grin, "I'm supposed to teach her all these kinds of things. Unless of course _you_ want to teach her, old friend. Although my version of sex-ed would be much more interesting, yours would be much more educational, and Ani always was very good at studying."

Koldan barked something at her in Russian that was probably good that Paul couldn't understand, and even though Cassie and Ani burst out laughing, Paul growled something back in Quileute that made the blond man stiffen. They began glaring at each other again, and Cassie grabbed Ani's hand.

"Dance with me?" she asked, deciding to ditch the men to their glaring games and Ani laughed, following Cassie out onto the dance floor.

They were quickly joined by Garritt and a few of his friends, and Cassie hadn't had as much fun dancing since she had gone out with Collin the night they had first met. There were a lot of people pressed on the dance floor, and as the crowds squeezed tighter, Cassie lost sight of Paul watching her from the side. She didn't have long to wait though, because a moment later a warm muscled arm wrapped around her waist, a familiar body pressed against her back, and like she had so many times before, Cassie closed her eyes and leaned her head back, losing herself to the music.

Paul never danced with her, so Cassie had assumed that he couldn't. It wasn't necessarily true. Paul might not be Collin, but he knew how to stand there and stay out of her way, to give her a body to brace against, to shift in response to her movements. He was naturally graceful, more so than someone who never tried to dance, and as the crowds pressed together even more, he didn't have much room to have to move in, and could content himself with standing and swaying and letting her hold onto him and do as she liked. Cassie was used to having hands on her when she was clubbing, but these were Paul's hands, and she wasn't drunk, she wasn't dazed with painkillers. She was her and he was him, and she felt so damn good it was _amazing_. His body felt even better, hard lean muscles that wrapped around her, and not for the first time she wondered what it would be like to be wrapped up in this body in every way, if he could change her, make her feel the way a man's body was supposed to make her feel.

Things were changing with them, she could feel it in his touch, she could see it in his eyes, she knew that Paul was honing in on her in a way he never had before. Maybe it was because they were away from the constant distraction of his Pack, but right now the only thing he could see was her, and Cassie was practically shivering beneath the weight of his focus. She rolled her body to the music, ignoring the eyes on her, using herself to catch his attention and hold it even more, almost to the exclusion of Ani and Garritt, who were dancing together and enjoying themselves immensely. Koldan was standing not a hairbreadth from Ani, his eyes scanning the crowd as he murmured softly into his headset, but Paul's hands were on her hips, on her waist, sliding down her leg and up between her breasts. Paul was holding her to him as she danced, and again she was lost, lost to the music and lost to her wolf, and she wondered if maybe this was one of the better moments of her life, being able to combine the three things she loved the most in the world.

One of those three was waving to catch her attention over the music, Ani wanted to find the bathroom and wanted Cassie to come with her, and Cassie nodded contentedly. Paul had seen and he made a path for the girls through the crowds, past a happily gyrating Garritt, and towards the far side of the warehouse. Half of the building had been left alone and blocked off from guests for safety reasons, but the bathrooms were close to the main open area, around the corner and down just a little ways. There was a small line, and to Cassie's mild embarrassment one of Koldan's men appeared out of nowhere, stepping in front of the line and blocking it off while the security head went straight into the bathroom with no reserve. There were a couple startled yelps and one decidedly drunken giggle, but the bathroom was quickly cleared. Cassie and Ani were given looks of annoyance when Koldan positioned himself in front of the entrance so that only Cassie and Ani could go through.

"Cass?" Paul said in his deep rumbling voice, having watched this with growing concern. "Is there something I need to know?"

Cassie smiled and kissed Paul's cheek. "Paul, my father has a lot of money. And if something happens to Ani, he will pay every penny of that to get her back. This is pretty standard back home, the guys always go the extra step to keep Ani safe."

"What about you?" Paul asked, his brows furrowing and Cassie's smile went a little sad before brightening.

"And there's a reason I'm here and not there, Paul. This side of the world is safer, and Koldan's just being overprotective because he's in love with my sister," Cassie said with a little smirk, making Koldan's face harden and Ani go scarlet. "In another month when she's eighteen, he might actually stop pretending he's not. I don't need body guards on me like that, and it doesn't matter the same way with me. I have you, I'm just fine how I am. Remember, you love me, you might even tell me later," she teased, and Paul chuckled, letting her go.

Paul stepped back, but she could see his doubt in his eyes, so Cassie grinned at him again as she threaded her arm through Ani's and together they slipped around Koldan and into the bathroom. For an abandoned warehouse, Garritt had made the facilities quiet nice, and Cassie grinned at her sister in the mirror as she was carefully reapplying her makeup.

"So? What do you think of Paul?" Cassie asked, already missing him even though she knew he was outside, possible making Koldan his new chew toy.

"He's _gorgeous_, Ksana," Ani said immediately, "I love how tan he is. Is he Native American?"

"Quileute, like baba was. They're from the same place, actually," Cassie said proudly. "Isn't he sweet?"

Ani laughed at that, and Cassie raised an eyebrow. Her sister grabbed her arm and bumped their shoulders together, grinning cheekily. "He's only sweet when he's looking at you, syestra, and it's cute that he keeps a hand on you every time the crowds get close, like he doesn't want to lose you. Otherwise he looks kind of scary. He keeps smiling at me though, so maybe he just likes us."

"You're my sister, which means that you're part of the club, Ani," Cassie smiled. "My guess is that if Koldan wasn't here, Paul would have one hand on you too. Speaking of which…" She smirked naughtily at Ani, who went crimson again, but she leaned against Cassie's shoulder and sighed happily.

"He's so handsome, isn't he?"

"Who, Paul? Yeah, I would have to say so," Cassie teased, and Ani bumped Cassie with her hip.

"Silly, I meant Koldan," Ani snickered, and then she sighed. "I've been really lonely with you gone, but Koldan always makes time to see me at the end of the day. We've started talking and when he's not working, he's really very kind."

"You only see the good in people, Ani," Cassie said proudly, hugging her sister to her side, and the shorter girl suddenly grinned prettily.

"Remember when you were trying to see the good in that boy from Saint Petersburg, and you snuck him into the hotel while mother and father were out?" Ani giggled.

"And Koldan found out and tried to run him out?" Cassie chuckled. "He was so mad, he had just gotten hired to guard us, and thought he was going to get fired."

"And he chased the boy out onto the balcony, and you were running after them, spraying Koldan with hairspray because you thought Koldan was going to hurt him?" Ani gasped. "And I was crying because I didn't understand and thought daddy was going to fire us too? And you started yelling at Koldan because he made me cry and the boy jumped off the balcony into the bushes?"

"Koldan grabbed his shirt, and it tore and the boy was a girl," Cassie was laughing now too. "And I told Koldan that he shouldn't hit girls and sprayed him right in the eyes? He never forgave me for that!"

"He still won't go near me if I'm getting ready and spraying hairspray," Ani sighed happily and leaned her head back on Cassie's shoulder. "I stopped wearing it for him, but I don't think he's noticed. I miss you, Ksana, things just aren't the same without you."

"I miss you too, Ani," Cassie said, tucking a stray strand of her sister's hair behind her ear. Sure enough, no spray. "But I'll come back to visit more, okay? Soon too."

"You promise?"

Cassie hesitated all of one second, and then nodded firmly. "I promise. Now, let's go back, I left a very good looking man all alone out there and he might have eaten your very good looking man while we were away."

"You make it sound like Paul is more dangerous than Koldan," Ani said in surprise, and Cassie slanted her sister a smile while brushing her hand across her left ear.

"Paul can hold his own, Ani," Cassie said proudly. "You should ask him to dance with you," she added mischievously. "He can't say no, not to you because you're my sister. Koldan already doesn't like him, and it might make Koldan decide he would rather dance with you than let Paul do it."

"That's mean, Ksana," Ani laughed, but her hazel eyes were sparkling. "I'll have to do just that."

The two girls linked arms again and slipped past a frowning Koldan as they exited the bathroom. Koldan's man had disappeared, oddly enough with the women waiting in line for the bathroom. Apparently the Russians and the wolf had scared them off. Paul had leaned against the wall, his arms crossed across his broad chest as he waited, and he gave them both an easy grin when they saw him. Ani gave him a shy little smile in return, and Paul raised an eyebrow as Cassie quite literally pushed Ani into Paul's personal bubble.

"Hi Paul," Ani said with a pretty blush on her cheeks and Paul glanced at Cassie, looking a little amused as he turned back to Ani.

"Hey, shorty," he chuckled flirtatiously, stealing a line from Seth, partly to make Ani blush even more and partly to piss off Koldan. It worked beautifully on both sides, and Cassie snickered, pushing Ani further forward.

"Would you like to dance, Paul?" Ani asked shyly, but she smiled up at him hopefully, and Cassie watched Paul melt a little. He chuckled and shook his head, standing up.

"I'm gonna step on your feet, Ani," Paul warned Cassie's sister, but he took Ani's hand kindly despite Koldan moving forward in protest. Ani shook her head firmly at Koldan and the security head frowned but stepped back, and Cassie didn't even try to hide the smirk she threw his way. Paul flashed a wolfish grin at the Russian man, and Cassie decided that Paul simply couldn't help himself. When put in a crowd of dominant males, Paul was naturally going to assert himself. He'd push them and piss them off, scare them and run them off, and Paul didn't seem to feel bad at all about it. He was more dominant, it was just his nature.

As Cassie followed Paul and Ani back to the dance floor, Koldan at their heels and muttering under his breath, she wondered just what it would be like to be imprinted on by a wolf even more dominant than Paul. Cassie adored Seth and Jake, but they would probably run roughshod over her. Paul challenged her, kept her on her toes and interested, but the Alpha and the Beta? They would be far too much to try and keep up with. These wolves were intimidating as hell, and personally Cassie didn't blame Sims for taking a metal bar to one of them to get their attention. It was easy to get stepped on when surrounded by giants…even if they were giant wolves…Oh dang it!

She had lost her wolf earring.

"Paul?" Cassie called, stopping, and despite the noise of the music and party, Paul heard her and turned around. Cassie pointed at the missing earring and made a sad face. Paul started to walk back towards her, but Cassie shook her head. "You two go dance. Koldan, you go be grumpy and not dance. I'll be right back."

"I'll help you, Cass," Paul insisted, not liking her out of his sight with this many people there, but Cassie grinned at him.

"I'll be right back, Paul," she promised. "Don't fall in love with my sister while I'm gone," Cassie called teasingly over the music, backing up. She darted back to the bathroom, which was still empty, hoping that her earring was still in there.

Cassie watched the ground as she walked, and with relief she saw a sparkle near the sink that Ani had been standing next to. She bent down beneath the sink, grabbing her earring and brushing it off. She made a happy little noise in her throat as she slipped her Paul earring back in, touching both that one and the other, Paul's wolf, just to make sure they were both in place. She thought it was cute, Paul on one side and his wolf on the other, with her squished in between. That was exactly how she wanted it.

Cassie stood back up, her eye catching the shape standing directly behind her without her brain really registering what it was. The hand that covered her mouth stifled her cry, the rough arm around her torso trapping her and lifting her off her feet so she couldn't fight, although it wouldn't have mattered anyways. The gunshots and screams outside in the warehouse drowned out any noise that she could have made, and she had to hand it to Afon.

The bastard's timing always had been perfect.

* * *

Samantha stuffed another taco into her mouth and swallowed blissfully, having lost count of how many miles she was going to have to run to counter this night.

Between Jack and Samantha, they had pooled their money and came up with nearly forty dollars. Most of it was Jack's, although Samantha had been able to pitch in a five dollar bill. Embry had given it to her a couple days ago to go buy more laundry detergent when he found out she'd been washing her and her father's clothes in the sink with dish soap. She'd also had some spare change from the last time she had bought her father beer.

Forty dollars would have bought them each a sandwich from the room service menu. Instead it bought them a whole slew of tacos from the all night Mexican food vendor down the street. It wasn't the best food Samantha had eaten, but it was cheap and at fifty cents a taco there was an army of food in front of them. They had also bought a couple gallons of generic orange soda and an apple, although they had been soaked from the rain by the time they reached the hotel again. It was a lot of food, but it probably wouldn't last the night, and that wasn't all because of the wolf.

So maybe Samantha was binging. She kind of didn't give a rat's ass right now. Despite what Paul had said to try and reassure her, Samantha knew Embry, and she was pretty certain he had broken up with her. He had made no effort to contact her since that morning and Embry never went that long without talking to her. She was horribly worried about him, but apparently the Pack wanted her to shut her mouth and let them handle things right now, and when Embry had backed them up instead of her, it had crushed a part of her that had been fighting like hell for him. It was one thing to fight for Embry, but he had actually said that he'd call her, don't call him, and that he needed time and space to figure his own self out. If that wasn't a break up, she didn't know what was.

He had his reasons, Samantha could understand his side. Embry was furious with her for breaking her arm, more furious for her not telling him what had happened that day in the truck, and she was pretty sure he had figured out or at least suspected that Jake had imprinted on her. Embry was far from stupid, and he had disconnected from her already, his voice different on the phone, even when he told her that he loved her. She had tried so hard not to betray him, and yet it seemed like no matter what she did she was in the wrong. So here she was in Vancouver, sick to her stomach with fear that something bad was happening right now, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.

Someone had told Embry that Cullen had been concerned with her break, that her struggles in fighting Leah and Seth had done some minor ligament damage in her arm, not enough to affect a normal person too much but enough that she might have ruined any hopes of ever being put in an arm bar again without having the bone re-snap and hurt her seriously. Embry had told her that she had wasted their time, and that he couldn't believe that she had done that to herself when he had already paid for her first fight, a surprise in two weeks. Rescheduling wasn't even an option anymore, not until they knew if she was done for good. He was beyond angry with her, and coupled with everything else, now there was no more Embry and maybe no more MMA.

So Samantha was binging. The apple was just in case that Paul was right and Cullen was wrong.

She had already flushed the entire bottle of anti-anxiety medication Carlisle had pushed upon her after hearing Dr. Foster's prognosis and the repercussions of Jake's imprint, because fuck that. Paul might be okay with letting his imprint chew those things like candy, but Samantha preferred a more direct method. She had a whole Pack of wolves that were regularly pissing her off these days, with the exception of one or two that were really growing on her, and the next time she was just going to start beating on one of them. They could take it, especially if they kept her tire iron safely tucked out of reach.

She wouldn't tire iron Jack, though. He seemed much too sweet, his shyness warring with a quirky sense of humor that appealed to Samantha, and even with nearly seventy tacos spread out in front of them, he still took a moment to appreciate every single one before and after consumption. Plus he didn't seem to care what they watched on the television, spending more time with his eyes on the quickly building storm outside than on the shows Samantha had scrolled through. The weather channel said that the entire Northern Pacific coast had been hit, and Samantha had tried to call her father but the phone lines in La Push were down. Leah had been the only one who answered her cell phone call, and the she-wolf had promised to 'check on the asshole' for her. At least it was something.

"The Third suggested we pay for our views," Jack said eventually, when it was obvious that Samantha couldn't find anything to watch. It took her a minute to realize what Jack was saying and she snorted.

"Did he?" Samantha murmured in amusement. "Paul would, wouldn't he?"

"He said they were the best shows, and you don't seem to enjoy anything that is free," Jack reminded her and Samantha laughed outright.

"Jack, he was talking about porn," Samantha grinned, and when Jack paused mid-chew, tilting his head to the side in confusion, Samantha added, "Sex, Jack."

"I understand the term, I just don't understand why you would voluntarily pay for something you could watch for free," he said with mild curiosity.

Samantha unfolded a foil wrapper from her next taco and stuffed the little thing in her mouth, chewing contentedly before answering. "How should I know, you're older than me. Half the stuff that Embry and I do is a total surprise to me beforehand, so it's not like I watch that shit for ideas or something. I've never even seen something like that."

"If you wish to pay, than we could view it," Jack offered politely, and Samantha choked a little on her food.

"You want to watch porn with me?" she asked in shock, and Jack smiled a little at her.

"I have found the ninjas and the weather less than interesting," he shrugged. "Our people used to be much freer with such things. We lived several families to a home, and it was not uncommon to sleep next to a brother and his wife."

Samantha smirked and flipped to the channel listings, scrolling down. "True, but I doubt that…'Debbie Does Dallas' is quite the same thing. Wow, that's an old one. I can't believe they're still playing that movie."

"I like football," Jack said, sounding a touch more enthusiastic as he looked at the promo picture of a girl in a football cheerleading outfit.

And on a normal day, Samantha would have laughed again and moved on to a different conversation. Maybe, just maybe she would have considered watching it with Leah. Embry could have convinced her with bribes, but only good ones. Jack however was a stranger, and there was something a little dangerous about watching something like that with a strange man you didn't know. And Samantha remembered exactly how respectfully the other spoke about him, because sweet or not, Jack was dangerous too.

Fuck it. Samantha stuffed another taco in her mouth, washed it down with a slug from the jug of orange soda and hit the pay button. She had never really expected to be watching her first porno with a mostly naked Native American man in a breechclout with taco sauce on his mouth, but what the hell. Maybe she'd finally have something to share with Leah instead of the other way around. An hour later, Leah called, sounding breathless and tired, and informed Samantha that her father was just fine. Samantha informed Leah that she had never realized she should have been charging Embry twenty dollars a breast fondle, and that Jack could watch some graphic stuff without a hint of interest, because he was still more focused on his tacos than he was the movie, and that breechclout hadn't bobbed once.

It took a lot to shock Leah. Perhaps she should have left out the bobbing. Unfortunately Samantha had to hang up the phone, they were getting to the good part. It was probably understandable that Samantha missed how violent the storm was growing, so it was a complete surprise to her when Jack suddenly turned his eyes to the windows and frowned, whispering, "The ancestors are angry."

The lights went out.

* * *

Cassie made a dart back for the bathroom, and Paul watched her weave through the crowds, eyeing her protectively until she turned the corner and disappeared. Then he smiled down at Cassie's sister, who looked so much like his imprint that it was uncanny. It was like someone had taken the hard edge off of Cassie that Paul hadn't even realized that she had and shrunk her down to pocket sized form, and that was Ani. Ani blushed every single time that Paul smiled at her, and he couldn't help himself. He kept doing it, just to see that blush come back.

"Are you _sure_ you want to dance with me?" Paul asked her in his rumbling voice. "I really can't dance, I only was hiding behind Cass earlier."

Ani's accent was much stronger than Cassie's, and her words slower as she had to think about what she was saying before she said it, but her English was nearly perfect. So Ani flashed him a little grin and replied, "Everyone hides behind my syestra when she dances. She's beautiful, isn't she?"

"Not a good enough word," Paul decided, and Ani beamed at him as he led her deeper into the dance floor. Paul loved his sisters, he knew that they loved him too, but he couldn't ever remember one of his sisters acting as truly delighted to be with him as his imprint and her sister were to be around each other. It was sweet, and made Paul want to grab them both up and stick them in a corner, with him standing there between them and the world so they could be delighted together in peace.

The Russian asshole would probably take exception to that, which made the thought even more tempting.

Paul didn't think that he was a bad guy necessarily, but one look at Koldan and Paul knew that they would never be friends. One, the piece of shit was lucky as hell that Paul hadn't ripped his arms off of him when he had stepped between Paul and Paul's imprint _while armed_. Koldan and his men floating around here looking all serious and paranoid might be the exception to Garritt's 'no security personnel inside the party' rule, but Paul was Cassie's security twenty four hours a day. His whole life was centered around her, and it was really fucking stupid for anyone who posed a physical threat to her to get between them. It was only the fact that Koldan felt very similarly about Paul that stayed his hand, and the two had been silently squaring off ever since.

For the record, Paul was winning. And yes, it felt good.

The dance floor was packed, and they had to go to nearly the far side of it to be able to have room to move. Paul didn't like being that far away from Cass, but he was tied to her pretty strongly right now, and the only thing he felt coming off of his imprint was utter happiness. Cass was happy with him, she was happy with Ani, hell she was even happy with Garritt and Koldan, so Paul was content as well. And later, he'd find a way to celebrate her birthday, maybe they could buy ice cream and fruit and chocolate sauce and make their own banana splits. That seemed like something that his imprint would be delighted about for days. He loved how easy it was to keep her happy, that as long as he was at least trying, that was completely sufficient for her.

"What should I get her for her birthday?" Paul asked Ani, taking her hand and impulsively giving her a little twirl. Ani went with it, giggling when he dipped her dramatically just to piss off the Russian dick standing two feet away. Just to make her laugh again, Paul pretended to waltz to the fast club music all around them.

Ani thought about it, even as they thumped into enough people to make their own dancing section open up with room, and instead of being embarrassed by him goofing off, like Cass would have, Ani just grinned. "Get her a book," Ani decided, bobbing a mock curtsey. "Romeo and Juliet."

"Can't," Paul chuckled, standing in place and letting Ani spin several times, catching her when she was breathless and laughing. "The ending is sad, so Cass would be sad. I can't get her a birthday present she wouldn't like."

"Hmmm," she hummed, sounding so similar to Cassie that Paul suddenly missed his imprint horribly. Ani snickered and leaned in closer, her perfume filling nostrils that Paul would have thought completely deadened by this point from being surrounded by so many heavy scents. "Why don't you give her-"

Not ten feet from his left, a heavily tattooed man with a wolfish grin and a semi-automatic machine gun hidden beneath his jacket let out a howl and pointed the weapon at the ceiling, letting loose. Jake would tell Paul later that it was not his fault. There was too much noise, too many scents blocking his nose, too many strangers to pay attention to. But Paul would never believe him, because if Paul had just been paying more attention...maybe he would have been able to get to the other side of the warehouse and to his imprint. Instead he snatched up Ani and shoved her behind him, spinning to already find Koldan in front of them, handgun out and sighting down it.

The crowd screamed when Koldan emptied his weapon into the gunman without hesitation, and they surged away from the gunfire. Six more guns went off at the same time, all around the outside of the partygoers, causing the masses to surge back. Someone smacked into Ani, knocking her to her knees and Paul grabbed her up before she could get trampled. He could smell blood, and fear, and he had to get to Cass because she-

The scent of wolf filled Paul's nostrils as his inner wolf let out a warning snarl, and Paul saw that the man with the machine gun was standing there completely fine, as if he hadn't had an entire round of bullets shoved into him. The wolf stepped forward faster than even Koldan could move back, and whipped the barrel of the gun across Koldan's face, knocking the Russian completely out.

"Koldan!" Ani screamed, fighting to get out of Paul's grasp as he made a grab for Koldan too. Burdened with Ani and an unconscious Koldan in one arm, Paul let out a snarl and came face to face with the wolf. Black tattooing covered his face in tribal designs, the process of receiving the tattoos leaving deep red scars around the black markings, and Paul didn't want to know what this wolf had to use to actually pierce his skin and to leave that kind of scarring. The wolf was laughing and had put his gun directly in Paul's face, but Paul swatted it sideways and snatched the wolf up by the throat, jerking them nose to nose as Paul let out a horrible snarl.

The Calgary wolf's eyes widened and he let out an oath, and Paul slugged him directly in the face as hard as he could. The wolf staggered back in pain, dropping his gun in surprise. Paul was still holding two humans, so the best he could do was kick the gun away from them and snatch the wolf back forward, slamming their foreheads together hard enough to leave the other wolf stunned.

"What the _fuck_ are you _doing_?" Paul snarled, shaking he was so furious. Koldan's men had gotten there, grabbing a terrified looking Ani out of Paul's hand. Koldan was groggily coming to his feet as terrified silence descended over the warehouse.

"What the fuck are _we_ doing?" A feminine voice said with a laugh. "We're robbing your asses. My question is, what the fuck are _you_ doing, trying to get in the way?"

She wasn't a wolf, the woman who came strutting through the crowds, although the two men flanking her were. All three of them were covered in tattoos much heavier than the wolf that Paul had hold of, and had the situation been a little different, if there hadn't been several more situated about the outside of the room, armed as well and forcing people towards the center and onto their knees, Paul would have phased instantly.

Instead he shifted warily, keeping his eyes trained on six wolves and one woman with very dangerous semi-automatic weapons in their hands.

The woman was Native American from a different tribe, Shawnee maybe, and if she hadn't have been seriously pissing Paul off right now, he might have found her tight leather clothing and short spiky hair sexy. She grinned at the room and called out in a pleasant voice.

"Welcome to the real party of the evening, ladies and gentlemen!" She shot off another round to keep their attention, as if she didn't have it already. "We were supposed to let you all have a little more fun first, but we just couldn't wait. If you're missing your security personnel at the end of the party, feel free to fish them out of the water outside, although I have to admit, most of them weren't trying too hard to swim when they went in. My boys here have awfully good ears, so if we even _think_ we hear a police siren, you're going to see just how good they can be at putting a bullet through your brains. For example…"

She lifted her gun and pointed it at a girl on the floor near her feet, shaking with fear. It was Charlotte from earlier. With a snarl of rage, Paul grabbed the wolf a little tighter and flung him across the room at the woman. She looked a little surprised when the wolf next to her had to step in front of her and catch the flying one before his flailing self smacked into her, and Paul took a menacing step forward. One step was all he could go, because one step was the amount of distance he could move to put himself between Ani and a bullet. The men around her were a shield, but not a good enough one. Paul was bulletproof, nothing could go through him and into her.

Plus he couldn't abandon her in a room full of Calgary wolves. They were already eyeing her and Koldan, and it was possible that Paul might have already gotten them both killed just by association.

Cassie was suddenly very, very afraid, and when her terror hit, Paul's rage grew. She was still in the bathroom, he could feel it, but he couldn't look that way and draw Calgary's attention towards his imprint. Cassie was afraid, but she wasn't hurt, and she was smart enough to hide. His girl was _very_ smart, which gave him more options here.

"Okay," the woman said brightly. "I want all jewelry, rings, watches, necklaces, money, everything in the bags my boys are passing around. Make it quick, because—"

"What the _fuck_ are you _doing_?" Paul snarled harshly in Quileute, ignoring the woman and focusing in on the wolves in the room. There were six of them, and one of him, but Paul was furious, so much in fact that he was trembling from his desire to phase, and the weight of his anger made his voice roll heavily over the room. The Calgary wolves froze, and the two near the woman glanced at each other uncertainly.

"I already _told you_, asshole," the woman replied in Quileute, looking annoyed as she hefted her weapon. At this point Paul and his companions were the only ones not on their knees, Koldan's men had their weapons drawn and trained on the wolves, who had their guns pointed right back, and a slightly unsteady Koldan was at Paul's side with his gun trained on the woman. "Now get the fuck down or I'll make you a few feet shorter."

"He's La Push Pack," one of the wolves at her side growled warningly, and the woman scoffed.

"Then what are you waiting for? Kill him, or better yet, mess him up and bring him back for Chitakido."

"You take orders from a woman?" Paul spat insultingly in English so that all of the party could understand why she was flushing in anger. Then Paul switched back into Quileute. "Is your Alpha so weak that he can't keep his wolves from becoming petty _criminals_? You are _pathetic_. Your Pack has no honor, and your Alpha no honor. You are an _insult_ to Pack and to our tribe."

"Our Alpha would chew you up and have you for breakfast," one of the wolves snapped back, but Paul caught the fear in his eyes. There might be six of them, but they weren't making a move on him, and Paul knew exactly why.

Paul was stronger. Paul was stronger than _all_ of them, possibly combined. It was about damn time.

"_Put your guns __**down**_," Paul barked out the order, pulling on the strength of his own Alpha to make it stick. The wolves waivered, glancing at each other uncertainly, and Paul snarled the order again. The wolf with the least amount of tattooing, the one Paul had thrown, shivered beneath the weight of the order and despite cursing furiously, he dropped the handgun that had been tucked in the back of his jeans. The woman cursed and kicked him in his back, snarling when she realized that her wolves had stopped moving through the crowds with the bags, gathering their loot.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" the woman yelled at her men. "You're letting one wolf punk you? Just fucking kill him already and let's get this job done! We got paid a lot of money for this shit, so just do it!"

"You're not an imprint," Paul said with disdainful certainty. "You're nothing." He turned back to the Calgary Pack, eyeing them with furious disgust. "You turn our strength, our birthright, our _blessing_ into a weapon against the people we are to protect? _Kadidu_. You deserve to be put down like _dogs_."

They were shuddering under the weight of his anger, but Paul didn't have control of them. He wasn't Alpha. Jake would have these pathetic pieces of shit with their noses in the dirt, whining and begging for forgiveness, but Paul wasn't strong enough. And they were obviously trained mercenaries. They knew Paul couldn't move away from where Ani was, and they knew they couldn't take him on. There were over a hundred people in this warehouse right now but only a couple of them actually mattered, and unfortunately Ani was one of them. The woman smirked and pointed her gun directly at Paul.

"Think I can bounce one off you and hit her?" The woman asked curiously, grinning at Paul. Koldan emptied another round, this time at the woman, but the Calgary wolves had already stepped in the way. The Russian snarled in frustration as his bullets didn't even affect the wolf whose chest they smacked into, probably thinking they had bullet proof vests on under their shirts. The woman smiled and lowered her gun, and then very casually shot Charlotte in the head. Paul let out a bellow of anger, and the stench of fear burned his nostrils, the partygoers terrified. Thank god Cassie hadn't seen that, she would have been devastated. As it was, Paul was sickened, and he had to fight to keep his stomach under control.

"How about this?" the woman said in a reasonable tone to Paul and Koldan, lapsing back into English. "We seem to have a conflict of interest here. So why don't we not shoot anyone else, and you don't shoot at us, and we take our money and go? That way we can head off any more unpleasantries."

There wasn't a lot he could do, and Cassie's fear was rising fast, pushing Paul towards panic. Koldan however nodded curtly, his and his men's weapons still trained on the Calgary mercenaries around them, and he stepped back towards Ani, who had been pushed to her knees and balled up to make a smaller target. They didn't realize that these wolves' eyesight were so good that it wouldn't matter. They would hit exactly where they tried to shoot, but it was obvious that Calgary were attempting to keep the bloodletting down to a minimum, and with every minute that ticked by they became more restless. This was probably supposed to have been a quick easy job, but Paul was putting a major hole in that plan.

This wasn't about territory, it was about money. That disgusted Paul on a level that he almost phased then and there. Instead he bared his teeth at the wolves, but then jerked his head in acceptance. These rich folks could live with a few missing trinkets. Paul wasn't going to fight and get anyone else killed. Two of the wolves started to quickly move through the crowd, gathering their payout, while the other four continued to keep a close watch on Koldan and Paul.

A crash of thunder outside made some of the more frightened partygoers scream, and the woman laughed, kicking a few as she passed by. "So pathetic," she shook her head, and she focused back on Paul. "So, La Push, huh?" she asked in Quileute. "What're you ranked?"

"It's not the fucking army," Paul snarled back. "Does Calgary always sell his wolves off to the highest bidder?"

"Hey, he's got a lot of mouths to feed," she shrugged, then gave Paul a speculative look. "You're not the Alpha."

"If I was, you'd be at my feet right now," he said darkly, and she licked her lips.

"Possibly," she grinned, smirking as the lights flickered again. "Ever fucked an Alpha, La Push?"

"Can't say that I have," Paul replied in a hard voice, and she laughed.

The woman pressed her gun against a man's temple, leaning against his shoulder absently. "It's quite a rush. All that power and violence, that fire and anger, all wrapped up into a single man. It's like fucking napalm."

"Someone once said that about a girl I know," Paul murmured, his eyes very carefully watching the wolves moving around them. "He got his ass beat for it."

"Do you know what the best part is?" she purred, and Paul tilted his head at her. "The best part is not knowing if he's going to come in me or if he's going to kill me. He killed the last three, but he _likes_ me. I've put up quite a fight the couple times he's considered it."

"Congratulations, you're the most fucked up girl I've met," Paul decided in disgust as the two wolves finished their rounds with the bags and slung the heavy things over their shoulders. "And if that's their Alpha, no wonder they have no honor in them. Get your money and leave before I change my mind and kill you all out of fucking principle."

"Tsk tsk, so judgmental," the tattooed woman chided, smirking knowingly at him as the lights flickered in and out again. She patted the head of the man she was leaning against and wandered around the dim room, her pair of wolves staying at all times between her and Koldan's gun. "After all, we have to have liquid cash if we're going to-" Her words cut off with a burble as a man rose up from among the crouched partygoers behind her and stabbed her cleanly beneath the ribs, although just a couple inches deep. The wolves snapped around and cursed, but Toothpick was already holding a second blade to her throat, this one small and razor sharp.

"Now, now, missy, it's awfully bad manners to tell everyone your personal business," Toothpick said with a smirk, and as the wolves swung in on him, furious, Toothpick tightened the knife on her neck and tugged at the one in her abdomen, pulling a snarl of pain from her that made the wolves freeze. "I recommend you boys keep those guns pointed somewhere else, because she's not dead, not yet, but I can gut her like a fish before you can blink."

"Who the fuck are _you_?" the tattooed woman snarled in English, her voice wavering from the pain as two more men slipped out of the crowds, guns on the wolves.

"A couple of very highly recommended fellows that were paid an awful lot of money to do this job," Hurricane said cheerfully. "You see, we waited for the signal, but funny, it never came. Maybe because they thought it was us in here having a good time. But now that you have so kindly gathered our payout for us, we'll take our leave."

"Fuck you," the woman snapped, then yelped in pain as the knife went deeper.

"I wouldn't suggest it," the third said with a shudder. "You don't want to know where that mouth has been."

"This is our fucking job!" one of the wolves snapped, the smell of the Alpha's lover's blood making him vibrate with fury, and Hurricane shook his head.

"Sorry, but we do what we're told. This is our job, now toss that shit over here, or we all get to see that knife do its thing."

Cassie's panic had reached to a level that nearly had Paul blinded to what was going on in front of him, but he couldn't leave. He was in between Ani and a whole roomful of psychos, and Cassie would never forgive him if he let something happen to the girl. Cass was terrified, but she still wasn't in pain, and as long as that was the case, Paul was staying where he was. The Calgary wolves were starting to yell at the newcomers, who were yelling back, and Paul didn't know what the hell was going on anymore. It had turned to total chaos. That's when the lights went out and Paul finally saw the red laser sight aiming straight for his temple from up on the balcony.

The real gunmen in the room fired.

* * *

"So I totally wouldn't have watched a porno with you if I'd known we'd be sitting here in the dark."

"I don't understand."

"Well, you know…"

"Are you trying to seduce me?"

"What? No!"

"Ahh. The world has changed. Usually when a woman watches a man's breechclout, it is a sign of interest. I was mistaken."

"I was not watching!"

"Yes, Alpha."

"And I'm not Alpha either, so quit that!"

"Yes, Alpha."

"Jack, I _mean_ it."

"For a one-handed woman, you are awfully dominant. Usually that is a sign of Alpha, but perhaps you are just uncomfortable because of our close proximity? If it helps at all, I am your Pack, and am not offended by your obvious interest. Are you sure you're not trying to seduce me?"

"You're a bad wolf, Jack, a very bad wolf!"

"I believe that was on the channel list as well. Perhaps when the ancestors are no longer angry…"

"Gosh, gee, look at the time. Good night Jack."

"Good night Alpha."

* * *

The bastard might have perfect timing, but Cassie wasn't going to give up without a fight. So she continued to shriek and struggle wildly until she recognized the voice growling at her in Russian to stop fighting, and her relief was so palpable that Cassie felt her whole body go weak and limp.

It was Roman. Oh _thank god_.

"Roman!" Cassie cried as he started to move his hand, but at her voice, he clamped it back over her mouth, setting her back down on her feet and turning her swiftly. He lifted a finger to his mouth and released her, and Cassie shivered when he pointed at her boots. She knew what that meant and tears suddenly filled her eyes. Leaving her boots meant they had to run and be silent as they did, and Cassie horrified at the thought of running when Ani and Paul were in danger. But she did as she was told, quickly and silently stripping off her shoes so that she was barefoot.

Roman strode over to the door, a piece of metal rod in his hand, and he stuffed the rod through the door handle, wedging it closed. Then he turned and he pointed up at the ceiling above them. One of the white acoustic foam tiles on the ceiling had been shifted sideways, revealing an open section of steel support beams. That was how he had gotten to her, and Cassie shivered again, thinking that anyone else could have gotten in here the same way, and only moments ago she had been in here with Ani.

Another round of gunfire made Cassie jump and clamp her hand over her mouth so she wouldn't scream. Roman grabbed her by the shoulders, pointing up again, but she shook her head, pointing out towards the party. Her little sister was out there, her father's men were out there, and Paul might be bullet proof but he was out there too. She couldn't run away, she _couldn't_ do that. She'd never forgive herself if something happened to any of them.

Roman was wearing a black suit jacket paired with a casual dress shirt over his standard tank, and he stripped it off as he leaned in close, his mouth next to her ear.

"I can't save them," Roman told her harshly, jerking the jacket over her arms and buttoning it quickly so that the white of her dress was almost completely covered. "We've got thirty seconds to get out of here before I can't save us either. Your native's between your sister and the hired guns out there. Trust Koldan with her, trust me with you, and fucking _move_, Ksanochka!"

Without waiting for an answer he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up, and Cassie had no choice but to scramble at the steel beam above her, trying to balance on it without kicking any of the other to the tiles down. Roman stuffed Cassie's boots in the tank of a toilet to hide them, and then he removed the metal rod from the door and bit it between his teeth, making a running leap and hauling himself up next to Cassie. The ductwork around their heads didn't give them a lot of room to work with and Cassie was off balance, so Roman grabbed her around the waist and jerked her so that she was straddling him. He reached beneath them and slid the tile back in place just as the bathroom door swung open slowly. Cassie caught just a glimpse of the barrel of a gun poking through the doorway before the tile blocked it out, and then Roman rolled so that he was lying on his back along the metal beam, Cassie trembling as she lay stretched out on top of him.

Usually this position with Roman was a lot more fun than this.

Cassie tried very hard to control her fear, to control her breathing, but it was hard and she pressed her face in Roman's chest to stifle any noises she was making as she heard footsteps and soft voices below them. Roman rested a hand on the back of her neck, which would have been a lot more reassuring if she hadn't been feeling him move beneath her, his muscles bunching and stretching as he slowly withdrew one of his handguns from the waist of his pants.

_Please don't find the boots_, Cassie prayed in her head as she heard the gunmen shifting deeper into the bathroom, and she braced herself as Roman tensed. They were moving into the stalls. There was a scraping noise, and then a curse as they found the boots. And then Cassie couldn't hide her cry of fear when bullets started quietly peppering through the foam tiles of the ceiling, and Roman rolled them right off the steel beam and back down through the ceiling. Cassie hit first, cracking her arms and knees painfully on the ground with Roman's heavy body on top of her.

There were five shots from four guns with silencers, three bullets in three of them, two in Roman. Cassie's body guard was snarling in pain as he snatched her to her feet and dragged her across the bathroom floor. Cassie stared in horror at the three dead men around them, her eyes welling with tears so fast that she couldn't see. Roman was bleeding from his shoulder and his side, but he still was practically carrying her as he rolled out of the bathroom gun first, Cassie in his left arm as he slipped them deeper into the warehouse, away from the crowded area.

Cassie could hear Paul talking angrily in Quileute in the otherwise silent room, and a harsh voice answered him back in kind. The horror that struck her from that knowledge nearly brought her to her knees, but that wasn't an option. Roman was hauling her through the blocked off rooms of the warehouse, moving as fast as he could while trying to remain silent. They hit a small room that might have been an office, and Roman stuffed Cassie under the dust covered desk, kneeling in front of her as he cursed and tore off his dress shirt. Blood was soaking through his tank and he tore a wide strip of the shirt off before wedging the rest of the shirt against the wound to staunch the bleeding.

"You killed them," Cassie said brokenly, and Roman gave her a hard look when she whispered, "You promised, Roman, you _promised_ you wouldn't kill anyone!"

"You pay me to keep you from disappearing," Roman growled. "I kill the people that are paid to make you disappear. You want to never be seen again, Cass, then I'll stop killing people."

"Ani…Roman, we can't leave her back there!"

"Ani is the fucking target," Roman snapped as he tied the strip of cloth around the shirt to hold the makeshift bandage on. "Koldan is the target too. If Koldan gets killed, then he's out of Afon's way. If Koldan lets Ani get killed, Koldan's as good as dead to your father and he's still out of the way. You're just the icing on this whole cluster fuck of a cake, and I can't promise I'm getting you out of this, Cass. You've got seven hired mercs in there, mean tattooed mother fuckers, but they're just a distraction, girl. This whole building is crawling with Afon's men, and if I do manage get you out of here, you're giving me a fucking raise." Roman clicked the safety off on his second handgun and growled at her. "You _stay here_."

Cassie nodded, and then cringed as he disappeared out of the office.

There was more gunfire from out in the main room of the warehouse and Cassie bit down on her lip to keep from crying out. Her whole world was out there, she should be out there, not in here. Cassie wasn't very brave, she was the first one to admit that, but she did a lot of things instinctively, and her instincts told her to get back to Paul and stay with him. Safety was with Paul, and if Paul wasn't worried about her (which he was, she could feel it rolling through her, squeezing her heart painfully) then he wouldn't leave Ani to go protect her. Even if it got her killed, keeping Paul with Ani was more important than anything. Cassie had to go back.

Shaking in fear, she slipped out from under the desk, crawling along the wall. Roman's dark jacket camouflaging her as she moved, and Cassie huddled at the doorway. She poked her head out of the very bottom of the jamb, trying to see if anyone was out in the hall, but other than the pops of silencer gunfire, there was nothing. Cassie had just started to slink out when a man with a ski mask pulled over his face rounded the corner, a knife in his hand. She yelped and tried to scramble to her feet and run, but he caught her ten feet out of the doorway and slammed her face first into the wall, his heavy body pinning her in place. Cassie cried out, struggling and managing to snake out of the jacket, dropping down and elbowing her attacker as hard in the crotch as she could. He merely grunted and snatched her back up by the hair, cursing at her and dragging her down the hall.

"Roman!" Cassie shrieked, fighting for all she was worth to get free, and her attacker covered her mouth to stifle her cries. It was what killed him, because he couldn't reach his knife in time to protect himself as Roman rolled around the corner, and shot Cassie's capturer directly between the eyes. Cassie cried out again, this time in horror as blood splattered her, the hand reflexively tightening in her hair even though the man was dead. Roman ripped her free and had her half over his shoulder as he ran down the hallways, ducking and pausing to avoid the groups of men that kept slipping past.

"You _killed him!_" she hissed, but Roman was shaking his head.

"No I didn't," he told her calmly. "It looked like I did, but I didn't."

"You shot him in the face!"

Another gunman stepped out only three feet in front of them and fired, and Roman twisted them sideways to avoid the first bullet and slammed the side of his hand into the man's throat. He made a gurgling noise as he fell, and Roman grabbed his gun, slinging the strap over his shoulder. Roman shot him in both shoulders as Cassie hid her face in his chest, and then Roman continued to move on.

"There," he said sarcastically. "I _didn't_ kill him. Was that any better?" Cassie didn't say a word, but she did make a little miserable noise into his shirt.

"You know, I'm starting to think that you and I need to talk about my current working environment, Ksanochka," Roman decided gruffly, sinking down a wall and poking his head around it. The plaster near his face kicked up into the air as gunfire aimed his way. Roman changed the clip in his gun and gave Cassie an annoyed look. "I really tried to do the no killing thing, but let's be realistic. You're walking around with a big fucking target on your hot little ass, and every time they try to take you…"

He snaked his arm out and began shooting into the room blind, although by a grunt of pain, at least one of his shots hit their mark.

"And they do, by the way," Roman added sourly, "_All_ the time. Every time they try to take you, if I don't kill them, they just come back. And yeah, it's nice if they stay alive so I can recognize them, but they're starting to recognize me now. I used to work with some of these guys, and do you know how embarrassing to have to _not_ kill a colleague? It a fucking rookie mistake and I'm starting to become the laughing stock of the whole system. When you're done with me, if I'm not dead, no one will hire me again."

Roman grabbed Cassie up and swung them into the room, turned sideways to block her from view and shooting twice. Twice was all it took, because when Roman shot someone, they stayed shot. They were heading for the far side of the building, but Cassie understood why. Roman always kept a vehicle stashed if he needed to get to one, and there wasn't a lot of places close to the front of the building that could accommodate that. Roman was bleeding enough that his shirt was growing a large, dark, wet patch, but it wasn't slowing him down.

Cassie closed her eyes and tried not to look at the dying people that Roman was hauling her over, feeling Paul's rage reach new heights. It was overwhelming, and made her dizzy. They reached the outside wall, and Roman glanced through a barred window outside. The storm was blowing so hard that the white spray of waves was nearly as high as the pier.

"Listen, girl, here's the deal," Roman said in a no nonsense voice. "We can't backtrack, and we can't stay here. They'll surround us eventually and I'm low on ammo. They've got a shitload of men guarding the exits, so they're going to try and make a grab for you. The car's next to that shed, see it?" Cassie did, it was a hundred yards away and beside the dock. "The keys are taped under the driver's seat, and it may or may not be wired to blow if they found it. I don't think it will, because they want _you_ alive. There's too many and I can't get you out of here, so I'm going to give you cover, and you're going to run your ass to that car. If you can't get away, try to make a break for the water and don't drown. Don't let them take you, because if they do, even I'm not going to be able to find you again."

Cassie bit her lip, closing her eyes as she shivered, her fear rising even higher. Paul was responding, his anger rising, but he wasn't close. She couldn't get to him. She would never want him to leave Ani and come for her. This was how it was and there was no changing it. At least she had said she loved him, even if she hadn't meant for him to hear it. At least he would always know. And maybe Roman wouldn't be able to find her, but Paul might be able to. It was a sliver of hope, but something to hold onto.

Roman gave her a softer look, seeing her trying so hard to fight her fear. "We knew it was going to happen eventually, girl," he said almost gently, tugging her close and kissing her quickly.

"I'm sorry, Roman," Cassie whispered, tears welling up in her eyes again, and Roman shrugged.

"You're a pain in the ass, but I've had worse jobs." He grinned at her suddenly, and clicked the safety off his gun. "Not worse bosses, though. Want this?" He was offering her his second gun. Cassie shook her head no. "Figured. Ready?" he asked, and Cassie shook her head no even as Roman hauled her to her feet one last time and pulled them both out of the warehouse's back door.

He was shooting and she was running, the gravel cutting her bare feet as she bolted for the car. The wind was screaming in her ears, almost blocking out the sound of gunfire, and somewhere in the distance was a police siren. It would be too late. Cassie made it to the car. Cassie made it in the car. Cassie found the keys and she managed to start the car.

That was as far as she made it.

She really did try to fight them from dragging her back out. She really did try to break loose from their hold. She really did try to make it to the water before they grabbed her again. There was a second car, not Roman's, and when they shoved her into the back seat and took off, she was still trying to fight her way out. But she was just too small. Maybe she should have brought a tire iron. The one way glass windows were bulletproof, only the best for her. Roman made it to the window and nearly managed to break her free. Nearly.

The last thing Cassie saw was them shooting Roman down in the middle of the street, and then her screams of his name were muffled by a cloth over her mouth, and a sweet scent that lulled her into blackness.

* * *

The lights had rolled back on, but Jack preferred them off, not minding when they did just that. He stood at the windows, watching the storm push over the city. The ancestors were angry, but he didn't blame them. They had a lot to be angry for. Jack closed his eyes, feeling the presence of Pack in the city, Pack not their own, and his Third's rage rising quickly. Jack crouched down and fed Pyatno a bit of taco, unconcerned.

After all, it was dangerous to anger the Third.

* * *

"Wake up, princess," an unfamiliar masculine voice was saying in her ear, his Russian words harshly loud. Cassie blinked as she realized that she was conscious again, even though she couldn't see. "You've got a phone call."

The car had stopped, but Cassie didn't know where because of the blindfold, and her scream was cut short by a hand clamped down over her mouth and a knife pressing none too gently against the slope of her breast.

"Be quiet, princess," the voice told her with a little laugh, taking his hand away. "Wouldn't want to carve up boss's lady without his permission."

Cassie was still in the car, and the man that had grabbed her, presumably the one talking to her, had her half pulled on his lap and restrained. The fact that he was obviously enjoying it made her sick to her stomach, but when the cold plastic of a cell phone was pressed to her ear, that feeling slipped away into utter terror.

"Hello, darling," Afon purred from an ocean away. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for your birthday, did you at least like your surprise?"

"Go to hell," Cassie managed to breath, and the voice behind her laughed, squeezing her thigh as Afon chuckled into the phone. "And tell your ape to get his hands off of me," she whispered despite her shaking. The hand was gone instantly, followed by a curse, and she could practically hear Afon grinning over the phone.

"I apologize, some of my men are a touch…uncivilized. I have a present for you, Ksanochka," Afon continued. "But you have to ask me nicely for it."

"Go to hell, you sick _freak_," Cassie repeated with more vigor, but her fear was even worse now that the knife was pressed even harder to her breast. Blind. She was blind and had no idea what was going to happen. She needed Paul. She needed Paul. _Oh god, she needed Paul_.

"Now now, that's very unladylike," Afon chided her. "So your birthday present is this, darling. I have such an interesting scenario going on inside your friend's quaint little party. I'm very proud of it, it took a lot of effort to set it up. Right now, very much not to their knowledge, your beautiful sister, her beloved protector, and your newly acquired native all have snipers on them. And you get to choose. Who will it be, Ksanochka? Which two will you get to keep as your birthday present?"

Cassie let out a strangled cry, and Afon chuckled over the phone. "I would suggest choosing quickly, dear. I'm not in a habit of waiting, not even for you. It benefits me if all three of them go, but out of my undying regard for you, I will be frugal. Choose, Ksanochka, or I will choose for you."

Cassie didn't hate people. She loved people. Even the bad people, she loved, because someone somewhere hadn't loved them enough to help them not to be bad. But Afon wasn't a man. He was her own personal devil, one that took utter delight in finding new ways to break her into little bits. And she _hated_ him.

Paul had told her today that she hadn't been broken, but as tears slipped down Cassie's face, she realized that maybe she had. Little Red had fled her story and found a new one, but even in the wolf's belly, the hunter could find her, could cut her out and have her for himself. And the wolf and Grandma's basket were going to have to wait, because there were darker things in the forest and when she couldn't see where she was going, Little Red was going to get lost. And Hansel and Gretel were going to get eaten up eventually, but maybe not today, and Little Red had had her fairy tale, but now it was the big bad wolf's turn to save the day.

Save the day, wolf. Little Red forgot how.

"Last chance, Ksanochka. Who are you choosing to die? Or shall I just dispatch with all three?"

And all the king's horses and all the king's men, couldn't put Humpty back together again, not after she bowed her head and whispered, "_Paul_."

* * *

Paul didn't know if a bullet in the soft spot of his temple would have killed him. All he knew was that he might be a wolf, but Koldan had faster reflexes than he did, because the Russian security head slammed into Paul, knocking him sideways just in time for the bullet to go whizzing by and bury itself into the ground at their feet.

Koldan yelled something in Russian and flung himself on top of Ani as the pitch black room lit up with gunfire, almost all of it pointed at the young girl. Paul made it there in time, but just barely, and he felt the sting of metal digging into the top layer of his skin as he tried to shield both of them. In horror Paul realized that this had all been a cover, a distraction, and that the distraction had been for Koldan. Someone was trying to kill Ani, and if someone was trying to kill Ani, they might be going for Cass, too. Paul had stayed here long enough. A backup generator kicked in and the most basic of lights flickered back on, leaving the room so dark that the human eye could still barely see. The Calgary wolves and their woman were gone, their payout with them, and the trio were on the ground dead.

But that wasn't why Koldan cursed. The reason why he cursed was that by the time the lights came back on, both Ani and Paul were gone too.

* * *

When Afon laughed and repeated the order into another phone, followed by the carryover sounds of gunfire, something important inside Cassie shattered.

"Interesting," Afon had hummed. "And here I thought your newest toy meant more than that. That's a relief, I thought your affections had been straying elsewhere. Well, enjoy the rest of your party. If you need a new body guard, feel free to ask, love, and I would be happy to oblige. As always, I'm at your service. Oh, and Ksanochka? Anytime I want you dear, I can have you. So start picking up your phone when I call, it doesn't do to hurt my feelings."

And with that, a block from the warehouse, Cassie had been dumped out into the middle of the road, blindfolded and broken.

Hunched over on her knees, the rain soaking her to the bone, Cassie waited to die. If Paul died, she'd die too, right? But if he was dying, he was doing it strangely, because instead of being gone in her soul, he was burning brighter than ever. He was full of rage, so overwhelming that Cassie wondered if she should feel angry too. His rage forced her to her feet, left the blindfold on the road in a soggy heap, pushed her barefoot and shaking back towards the warehouse.

Paul wasn't dead. She had killed him, but Paul wasn't dead. He was bulletproof, so he couldn't be dead. Or if he was dead, so was doing it so furiously that he felt very alive to her. There was a puddle of blood where they had shot Roman, but it was washing away, and Roman was gone. He might be dead, he might not. Her head told her he was, her instincts told her he wasn't, but she might never know for sure. After tonight, too many people had seen his face. Dead or not, her bodyguard was gone. She was all alone, except for maybe the not dead yet Paul, who had her sister in his grip and was heading right for her.

It was a funny thing, shock. That's what they said she was in when Paul snatched her up in his arms, frantically trying to see if the blood on her dress was hers or not. She must have looked a fright, because Ani was crying, and Ani shouldn't ever have to cry. She had lost her Paul earring. She was so so very sorry, Paul, she lost her earring and she would never do that to him again.

And as the rain failed to wash her clean, Little Red tried to crawl back inside, and the wolf was hushing her gently, holding her tight.

* * *

Cassie was a mess, and she was babbling nearly incoherently in Russian. Ani said it was something about fairytales, and it wasn't until Paul had scooped her up against his chest, cradling her to him protectively that she began to calm down. His imprint did have a tendency to be a little high strung, but Cass looked like she had been through a warzone, and when she finally stopped babbling and fell into a silence so unlike her, her face hidden against his chest, that Paul was pretty sure it was shock. She hadn't been in the room with them, but by the amount of bodies littered through the now cop-filled warehouse, there was something major that had gone down tonight.

Paul should ask Koldan. After all, the man was striding up to them, his men at his heels. Koldan snatched Ani up off of the rain covered ground, speaking to the shaken girl in Russian before staring worriedly at Paul.

"What the hell happened tonight?" Paul snarled in English, letting every ounce of intimidation that he had fill his voice, and the other man stiffened even as Koldan passed Ani off to one of his men. A car was speeding up and they pressed her inside of it quickly. "Koldan? What happened? Were they after Ani or were they after Cass?"

Koldan took one long look at his men, and then turned to Paul. Paul had seen that look before, the look of a man trapped in a corner, helpless and angry about it. Then Koldan jerked off his jacket and wrapped it around Cassie's distressingly still body, a cover from his men as he whispered in a heavily accented voice, "Her body guard probably died tonight protecting her, but the attack was on Ania Fedorova and myself. I will send Ksana what protection I can, but she would be safest at home the way Ania is. Do not leave her alone tonight, Paul Coho. Ksana hates suffering and has seen too much of it. We all have."

And with that, Koldan was gone. The police would probably want to know in detail what happened, so it seemed wiser to Paul that he and Cassie be gone too.

The storm was passing over and moving northwards, so the rain was growing softer as Paul carried his imprint back to the hotel, although the power in the entire city was still out. He moved quickly, keeping out of the few backup sources of light that he could and was quickly to their rooms, making short work of the stairs. Paul's key card obviously wasn't going to work, but Jack had left the door propped open so they could enter. Sims was already asleep in the first bedroom, but Jack was waiting for them, cross legged in front of the open doorway. The ancient wolf tipped his head as he sniffed the blood on Cassie, and then he calmly followed Paul into the second bedroom.

Cassie was still in shock, so Paul stripped her out of her dress, carrying her to the shower and turning the warm water on. He sat with her cradled in his lap, the heated water massaged down on them, carrying with it the stench of death from tonight. Cassie's body guard had died, Koldan had said. Cass smelled like Roman, and even though just earlier today Paul had hated the man he'd never seen, he wondered if maybe Roman was why he still had his Cass in his arms. Jack had settled next to them on the floor, Cassie's hands in his as he softly hummed in Quileute, a prayer of comfort so old that Paul had never heard it.

As Jack hummed, Paul quietly told him what had happened, ending with, "I need you to tell Jake. Go outside to do it, because I don't trust that this room hasn't been bugged. Tell him that Calgary's woman might have died tonight, and it might get pinned on us. And tell him that I'm not bringing the imprints out of our territory again after this trip. I need Collin here by morning, Brady too, and we'll _all_ go to Yellowstone or I'm bringing us home."

"Both pups?" Jack raised an eyebrow and Paul nodded.

"Brady for Sims, Collin for Cass, and that'll leave us free to deal with Yellowstone," Paul explained in a hard voice. "Or I won't do it. Jake's too cocky, and tell him I said that. This was a bad call to come in so underpowered."

And with that, Paul turned off the water and wrapped his imprint up in a towel, carrying her to bed. Halfway through the night, Cassie began crying silently and reached for him, needing him, needing to be reminded that they were both still there. Paul stroked his hands through his imprint's hair and told her quietly that he loved her. Then, without any fear or hesitation, because it was insane to be scared to be with her when he had come so close to being without her, Paul lifted Cassie's hips to his and pressed inside. It wasn't amazing or earth shattering, she was much too upset for this to be about anything other than comfort, but it was Paul and Cassie. He was hers and she was his, and his mate needed him, needed him under her skin. He wouldn't deny her that anymore, not if that was what she needed.

The wolf didn't have anything to say. They were too busy already saying it.

* * *

The young man staggered and fell to his knees, tears running down his face as he slumped all the way to the muddy ground.

The earliest colors of the rising sun were casting their lights behind the dissipating storm clouds. All around him, the forest was shattered, beaten down into submission. The Alpha padded slowly up the cliff and stood over the silently weeping young man, his lips wrinkling back from gleaming jaws. He lifted his muzzle to the air and let out an earsplitting howl as the young man beneath him rolled over onto his side, curling up from the pain, ready for it to be over. The Alpha then sighed heavily and flopped down, the human pressing his face against the Alpha's huge leg, shivering. The Alpha licked the young man's face and then rested his muzzle on his Packmate's shoulder. His brother had done well. It was time to rest.

Embry closed his chocolate eyes and smiled despite the pain.


	17. Chapter 15

A/N Heya! No big crazies this chapter, so relax for a relatively mellow ride. Thanks as always to my awesome reviewers: _SARAH DB, KerryH, Jacobleah, EnglishVoice, pinkshirt, LexaBrooke, LightIsPrecious, Buffyk0604, garlauri, esoteric desideratum, MadToTheBone1, megawords19, alwaysxlove, SugerSweetCutie, TheLovelyImprinted, Manna1, dixonmichiah, UnderworldHybrid, Roonani, exquisiteabyss, Ashes-Of-Grey, cylobaby, hilja, HopefulHeartache, LadyMonday, toalli, ally leigh, laurazuleta18, sep12, EaSofie, momoirotan, LucyPenny, mcc3654, InsanelyxLoud, TeffieS, _and_ twiceasbold._ Laters!

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Fifteen

"You have to do it again."

"Damn…I don't know if I _can_, Jake."

"Embry? _You have to_."

* * *

There was a warm strong body wrapped around her. Cassie lay on a bed, staring at a room, and wondered if that body moved if she'd crack into a thousand tiny pieces and be blown away.

Last night had been wonderful, up until the point it had been crushingly awful, and even now she couldn't remember getting back to the hotel. Paul must have carried her, his strong arms catching her when she had crumbled, holding her together even as they did now. Paul's breath was warm on her shoulder, his long muscled torso curled around hers, their legs entwined and his heavy arm angled from her hip to her breast. Trapped? No. Protected? Surrounded with love and warmth? Yes, most definitely so. Was it enough? She wasn't sure. Paul had told her he loved her last night, and then he had done just that, loved on her until her tears had slowed, until that agonizing rip in her chest had been softened to a dull painful throbbing. But as the sweat on her skin slowly dried, it was cooling that warmth, leaving her feeling cold and alone, even in his arms. She tried to focus in on him and last night, tried to ignore the gut wrenching terror that having lost Roman brought to her.

Paul had made love to her. Cassie had never done that before.

Even that was hard to focus on, though. Cassie's memories were filled with the demon of her past, the recently fallen hero, the princess that had been swept away to her castle to be protected. And Cassie had been forced to watch it all happen around her, wondering if she had her part to play, or if she was just the court jester here for all of their amusement. The body shifted around her, hard planes against soft curves, hot warming cold, large enveloping small. Sometimes she felt so lost in his arms. All the strength of this wolf, the power, the position he held, it could be overwhelming. It could be especially overwhelming when all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and hide, sobbing her eyes out. But that wasn't Cassie's way. She cried, yes, but this was the world she was given, the only world, and she was determined to make herself see the good in it.

So while the world crashed and shattered, making a mockery of them all, Cassie lay in Paul's arms and tried her little heart out to find something she loved about everything.

The nightstand was a deep cherry wood, and Cassie had always loved deep rich colors like that. They reminded her of the woods, and of Christmas, and of Paul's laughter. The mirror above the dresser sparkled in the early morning light, glittering its reflections of everything it saw. Cassie had always loved when things sparkled, when they shined, like that crystal shop in the heart of Moscow filled with the tiniest creations of glass and gems. She had seen a little ballerina there once, delicate and graceful, no larger than her thumb. Cassie wanted to take Paul to that place, to keep her hand tucked in his, their breath puffing warm around their cold faces as they walked the snow covered streets.

She wanted him to love her home the way she loved his. Cassie thought she'd like that.

Paul's lips pressed lightly against her shoulder, and Cassie shifted into the contact. She was pretty sure she'd love him too right about now. She rolled in his arms, Paul sleepily gathering her up to his chest, nuzzling her ear. Cassie hooked her leg over his hip, pressing their bodies closer, and even half asleep Paul responded to her, his arousal hardening against her stomach. Every part of him was large, was strong, and Paul hadn't been worrying needlessly when he had worried about him taking her. Even as careful and as gentle as he had been the night before, she was sore. He was over twice her weight, a foot and a half taller than her, and she was pretty sure that if he had actually slammed into her at any point last night, he could have hurt her badly. But she still wanted him, she wanted to learn to be with him, she wanted them to learn to be with each other together.

Her small hand pushing on his shoulder rolled him over like she was twice as strong as he was, and Paul settled onto his back with her stretched out on top, his fingers threaded through her hair as he kissed her deeply. Paul was more awake now, although his caramel eyes were rimmed with the signs of sleepiness, and her wolf didn't say anything as she kissed her way down his chest. His skin was smooth over his abdominal muscles, and Cassie tried to brush her lips over that skin lightly enough to only feel the softness, not the strength beneath it. She was small but she wanted to be big, she was weak but she wanted to be powerful. She wanted to rely on herself, not depend on the people around her to protect her, even if she understood that they were better suited for it. She wanted to be mighty when she was only a mouse, and deep within the big bad wolf's lair, Little Red pressed her nose to her wolf's belly, inhaling deeply before continuing on.

Paul groaned as her mouth moved over him in small soft kisses, her tongue teasing across his arousal.

"Cass, I can't take much of that," Paul warned her softly, his hands fisting the pillow behind his head. In response she took as much of him in her mouth as she could, wrapping her hand around him as she continued what she was doing. Paul growled, his hips shifting upwards, and Cassie tried to accommodate that without gagging. "Cass, that feels fucking _amazing_, but I couldn't handle that shit well _before_ I phased," he told her in a dangerously sexy voice.

Cassie ignored him, and Paul hissed, his fingers digging into his pillow, the one thing in the room he couldn't break. With every bob of her head, with every stroke of her tongue, he growled softly, until a constant rumble rolled from his chest. He was trembling from the effort of holding himself perfectly still, the only way to make sure he didn't hurt her, but when his aroused growling was turning a little strangled from worry mixed in, Cassie crawled up his hips and straddled him. Turning him on had turned her on enough for this, so when Paul's hands wrapped around her hips, adjusting the angle, Cassie just exhaled and relaxed into it.

Paul was already inside her, drawing a moan of pleasure from both of them before it occurred to Cassie that they were doing this again without protection. She always used protection, absolutely no exceptions, not even for oral sex, so she didn't know what was wrong with her. Except that this was her soul mate, the only one she ever wanted to be with again, and it felt better than she ever could have imagined. Paul held her hips still, his beautiful eyes gazing up at her.

"Cass, are you sure?" he asked, maybe a touch too late, because they had already started this, hadn't they? Cassie nodded, but Paul shifted so that he was sitting up, changing the angle and making her give a soft cry at the feeling. Paul wrapped his hand behind her head and kissed her again, deeply, then pressed his forehead against hers. "I wanted to wait for this, baby," he told her quietly. "For both of us. If this is about anything other than us loving each other and wanting to show it, than we have to stop. What is this to you?"

But she couldn't answer that. Cassie didn't know. She had a stack of leftover pieces tucked neatly under the bed because she didn't know where they were supposed to go, and she…she…

It was her hesitation, or maybe the look in her eyes that answered Paul, and he flipped them both over, carefully settling down on top of her. He guided her legs around his trim waist, supporting as much of his weight on his arms as possible. Paul leaned down and nuzzled her jaw, laying a string of soft kisses towards her earlobe. "Cass, talk to me," Paul rumbled into her ear, and she realized that her wolf might be the only man who had ever been inside of her body and cared more at the time about what was inside of her heart. And her heart was broken.

"Talk to me about Roman," Paul encouraged her gently, even as he rocked forward, his body filling hers more completely. "Talk to me about what happened."

"Now?" she asked, confused and aroused simultaneously. "Like this?"

"Or not like this," he murmured, kissing his way down her breast, lapping at her skin lightly. "However you need me Cass. However you need me, I'm here."

Cassie closed her eyes, Paul's heated breath moving over her skin, across her neck, back to her jaw. She moaned softly when his hand slipped beneath her, tracing the curve of her spine, cupping her bottom and lifting her up to him. He rocked again, taking her deeper, and kissed her heart.

"I can feel it," Paul whispered in a pained voice. "I felt you shatter last night, and I can still feel it, like someone took a can opener to my guts. But when I was in you, you were better. When I was with you, you were better. I'm _here_, baby, be here with me too. _Talk to me_."

"It was all my fault," Cassie whispered to him brokenly, her arms wrapping around Paul's neck, pulling him down closer to her. If he crushed her, crushed her with his body and his love, then that was as good as any way to go. "He told me not to go to the party, he told me it wasn't safe. But I wanted to go. I wanted to go with you, and he's gone now. And if he's dead, he's dead because I wanted to wear a dress and look pretty and that's so horrible that I can't even…And he wanted me to leave you and Ani and I did. I left you, Paul. _I left you_, when I should have been there too."

"Roman was your body guard?" He knew it, but from the soft tones in his voice, it was clear that Paul was making sure he understood her completely. His hand massaging her leg, because it was skin and hers and needed to be touched because he loved her.

"The last four were killed," Cassie realized she was crying. Crying for lost friends that she'd never get back. "Every one of them mattered, Paul, every one. So I left, I came here, and Roman found me. I think Koldan told him about me. He protected me, and he cared about me. And I cared about him, and I put him in danger. I put everyone in danger, and all I want is to be around people and be happy with them. But I get people hurt, I get them killed, Paul. I'm so weak, I'm so selfish because I want them around me anyways. I don't want to be alone. I've been so alone, for so long..."

His hips rocking hard into hers was the most forceful he'd been so far, and when he was everywhere, inside and out, all around, his point was clear. Paul still whispered it in her ear, saying, "You're mine, Cass, you're all I've ever wanted, and you're _never_ going to be alone again. Do you feel me?" She nodded her head through her tears, tears he was kissing away. "All for you, baby, all and only for you."

Cassie wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and held on, arching against him so that she could feel his promise, all the way up into her soul, and Paul pressed his mouth back to her breast.

"Love you, Cass," he mumbled, his heart in his voice and his hands on her hips, crushing her closer. "Love you so hard I can't stop. Never gonna change, never gonna end, never ever gonna leave you…"

"Paul," she whispered, but her words were becoming harder to find. She writhed beneath him with a little moan, feeling her arousal grow, and when she looked up at him, his dark caramel eyes were watching her intently. His gaze was hot and hungry, but not for sex. Her wolf was hunting, and he was hunting _her_. He wanted her, and there were some parts she just couldn't give him, because there were some things that would never change. But there was a lot of her that she kept just for her, and it didn't have to be that way. She was scared to death to let another man have power over her, but her wolf was breathing his words like a mantra, promising his love to her, and Cassie knew what a gift that was from a man like him.

She finally closed her eyes and let go.

Paul's mouth slanted over hers, and Cassie felt the bond between them change, soften. It didn't make it weaker, but she could feel so much _more_. She didn't just know Paul loved her, she felt it in her bones, in her belly, anchoring her to him. Paul let out a soft cry, his eyes slipping brilliant blue for just a moment, and then he shuddered. She had finally accepted them as her mate, and that changed _everything_. Paul rolled her over onto her stomach and sat up, bringing her up with him. His mouth to the nape of her slender neck, he touched just the very tips of his teeth to the skin there, so lightly that it could barely be felt. Then he pulled her back down along his length, rocking her back and forth as she bent her head submissively, moaning louder with every thrust.

He had held her before, so many times, but his arms around her were so strong, it was like he would never let her go. His soft growl of possessiveness against her neck was coupled with his hand sliding between her legs, and as Paul showed her that of what he'd learned of her, he remembered it _all_, Cassie lost it. She came hard, came apart, came undone, and it was okay because his heat was filling her, his arms holding her in place. He was her rock, and whatever she was to him, it was important enough for him to press his nose to her neck and whine softly, an animal sound of intense feeling that reminded her that she belonged to not just one but two.

"I fucking love you so much," Paul swore to her one last time. "Just you, Cass, only you, always you."

"Paul? Is this the imprint?" she gasped weakly, and Paul shook his head, folding in around her.

"It's us, baby."

"You and me?"

"Yeah."

Closing her eyes, Cassie collapsed into his torso, resting her head back on his shoulder. "Paul? I love you too." He smiled against her hair, then groaned and rolled them down to the bedding, making sure to get a pillow under her head and the blankets back over her small form. He nuzzled her ear, and then started laying soft kisses along her jaw and throat.

"You're mine," he whispered, as if he couldn't believe it, his luck. "My mate. Mine, all mine."

Cassie looked over at him, and she smiled at what she saw. He was a beautiful man, but he was more beautiful because he was her man. And it didn't take back the hurt of yesterday, but when Cassie reached for Paul again, he was there, gathering her up into his chest and cradling her gently. Twice seemed to have been enough for him, because instead of letting her roaming hands turn into something more, Paul simply leaned into her touch, growling so softly in his throat that it almost sounded like a purr. Possessive, protective, territorial. The questions were coming, and he had her now, she had to answer.

"Cass, I need you to tell me everything you know about yesterday," Paul told her softly. "You're mine, mine to protect and I need to understand."

She closed her eyes, but at his touch on her jaw she opened them and nodded. He would have to start, though, she simply couldn't bring herself to do it. After a moment's thought, Paul did just that.

"The Calgary Pack was there to rob the party," Paul rumbled, his voice deepening seriously as he tried to work things out in his head. "And some other guys showed up to rob the party at the same time. But when everything got crazy, suddenly people started shooting at Ani and Koldan and I think me too. I was in front of both of them, maybe I was in the way."

Cassie flinched at that, but continued to let him talk. Paul pursed his lips thoughtfully, "Koldan said that Ani was the target, but when I tracked you through the warehouse, there were bodies everywhere. I don't want to be the wolf that interrogates his imprint, but if the same people who were after your sister were part of the Calgary Pack, that makes this a Pack issue. If Calgary is killing humans, we need to stop them. If Calgary is killing family, we _have_ to stop them."

Cassie was shaking her head, the motion tugging the strands of hair entangled in between Paul's fingertips. "Those guys in the warehouse were Russian, Paul. They were…"

She trailed off, a shiver going through her body, and Paul seemed to recognize it for the fear that it was. Paul must not have liked her being afraid, because he growled louder and flipped her over onto her stomach, stretching out on top of her with his teeth once more lightly touching either side of the nape of her neck. It was a rebuke, a reminder of his strength, and Cassie relaxed passively beneath her wolf. She didn't want to be in charge right now, and was content to let him remind her that he was fully capable of being just that. He was a good man, but more than that he was a strong man. To treat Paul otherwise was an insult, and that was something she would never do to him. And tucked beneath him, she was surrounded by his protection. The level of her fear lowered but not enough.

"Who are you afraid of, Cass?" he growled against her neck. "You're never scared of anything, so it must be bad. I have to know."

"My father's in trouble, Paul," Cassie whispered softly. "He made some bad decisions financially, and he nearly bankrupted the family. Generations of Fedorov's and he couldn't bear the shame of that. There were other extenuating circumstances, things that were my fault, so he cut some deals he knew better than to cut with a man he knew better than to go into business with. Then when the family fortune was secure again, he tried to back out. But it doesn't work that way."

"Your father's tied to the Russian mafia?" Paul asked, sounding almost sick as he said it, and Cassie shook her head again.

"It's not like that, Paul," Cassie told him in a sad voice. "People think that every unsavory person in Russia has to be mafia, and that's not true. My country's a good place, it has good people in it who have lived through some hard times in the last few generations. My father's a good man, and my family is a good family. Thing's just don't always end up black and white, you know? Sometimes all you have is grey, and you have to find ways to make it the cleanest grey you can."

"But sometimes it gets dirty?" Paul rumbled against her neck, and Cassie smiled. He knew her. He understood her and that made the ache in her heart soften just a little more.

"Yeah, sometimes it gets dirty," Cassie agreed. "My family has always been tied into politics, for generations, and my grandfather's eldest brother was no exception. When he died, my grandfather was left trying to hold the family together. He was a bit of an embarrassment, what with having married a Native American woman, but he tried his best. He was able to take his brother's position in the CPSU."

"I don't know what that is," Paul admitted honestly, and Cassie pursed her lips. She could spend days explain how deeply rooted her family had been in their country's politics, but it had been a long, sleepless night, and despite the relaxation Paul's love making had brought to her body, she was exhausted.

"It's the Communist Party of the Soviet Union," she explained softly. "It was it was led by Vladimir Lenin, but Joseph Stalin became the General Secretary of the Party, giving him complete executive control of the country. My family helped found that Party, and had always held seats of power."

"Stalin was a dictator, right?" Paul asked, sounding appalled. "He was evil, killed millions of people, didn't he? Shit, Cass, your family was involved in that?"

Cassie frowned. She rolled over beneath him and looked up at Paul. "I'm not going to argue the pros and cons of capitalism versus communism, Paul, but you're acting like an American. Stop it."

Her wolf blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

She glared at him and stuck her tongue out. "You're hearing the word "communism" and you're associating it "bad Russians". The Cold War is over, Paul, and there were two sides to that too. Believe it or not, you Americans aren't always right about everything, we aren't all evil mafia or KGB spies."

Paul entwined their fingers, smiling a little. "Easy there momma, I'm not insulting your heritage. Just because I'm more attached to your grandmother than any of your other relatives doesn't mean I think they were bad people."

Cassie looked up at him seriously. "Paul, Stalin may have done a lot of horrible things when he was in power, and yes, he had corruption all around him in the Party, but there were good people in the Party too. People who used their power to help the country. Our countrymen finally had access to healthcare and education, and women could finally have more equal rights. They could work, they could give birth in a hospital…Do you know how many women died from childbirth before that time? Do you know how many people were illiterate?"

"I didn't know that, Cass," he told her a touch soothingly, and Cassie tried to regulate the protectiveness she was feeling towards her family and her home. This was Paul, and what people viewed as callousness on his part was more often than not a true lack of judgment. He had his ideas and opinions, but he was one of the least judgmental people she knew, and it wasn't fair to treat him any other way.

"Sorry, Paul," Cassie murmured and he kissed each one of her knuckles in reply as she continued. "The Party had moral people in it, people like my grandfather and his brother, people who tried to make a difference. My father followed in my grandfather's footsteps, and he was proud to be a member of the Party. But he refused to be a part of the plot to overthrow Gorbachev, knowing it would only bring the country more heartache. And he was right. That single act destabilized an already shaky country, and the Soviet Union broke apart. So many of the good things my family worked so hard for were gone. And I hate that those good deeds are lost beneath the legacy of violence and corruption associated with Stalin."

Paul nodded, but didn't say anything, and Cassie sighed. "The Soviet Union dissolved twenty years ago, the Party a year later. I was just a little girl, but I still remember the look on my father's face. It broke his heart. He could have joined another political party, he was a very influential man and people believed in him, trusted him. But he just didn't have the stomach for it anymore. He and others like him, members of the Party that wanted out of politics, used their political power to 'redistribute their family assets' as my father called it. He became a businessman instead of a politician."

"A legit one?" Paul asked quietly, and Cassie felt tears threaten to well up in her eyes.

"He tried," she promised. "He tried very hard, but things over there were so convoluted for a while. Some business deals seem legit, and you only find out later how wrong you were. My father is an idealist, he doesn't have the heart for cut throat business ventures, and his attempts at moral integrity on an economic level have been slowly bleeding our family dry. It's so hard for a good man to watch his family lose everything because his moral values, but there were things he simply wasn't willing to do."

"So you're like your father," Paul murmured, kissing her jaw gently. "You never talk about him, so I never knew."

"I embarrass him, Paul," Cassie whispered, feeling the tears more than threaten to fall. "He found out about the rape, found out that I went back instead of notifying the authorities. Some of the men in that room had been former colleagues of his, powerful men that could have hurt my father physically and monetarily, and they described things much differently. My mother understood this, and she supported their opinions. When he asked me, I could have told the truth and he would have believed me. But some of those men…my father has enough troubles without making those kinds of enemies. I lied, told him it was voluntary on my part and he was humiliated by that. He had spent a fortune on my dancing, on years of training, and instead of the honor of an accomplished daughter, he was given in return a cheap whore. Those were his words verbatim."

"Your mother sent you _back_, Cass!" Paul snarled, suddenly furious. "That's bullshit!"

"She had her reasons."

"Which were?" His tone of voice said that no matter what, those reasons would never be good enough to him.

"A business deal," Cassie said sadly. "A business deal that could save the family the social humiliation of destitution. My personal humiliation was secondary to her. She didn't want that for me, and I know it might not seem like it, but she loves me. She loved me very much, but she loves my father and she loves Ani too, and the interest of this man…she thought it might save the family. And in a way it has. The man expressed interest in me, and my father was thankful that his whore of a daughter would still gain the attention of a man with an old family reputation to back him. He would have married us off the next day if I would have been willing."

Paul let out a vicious snarl, but Cassie merely shushed him and ran her fingers through his hair. "The man came from the same place socially that my father did, he was Party too, although younger and much more ambitious. He supported the coup on Gorbachev, and when the Party was dissolved, he became less 'moral' than my father in his business dealings. And he was much better at them."

Cassie's face grew so sad that Paul's anger softened to a level slightly below furious, and he nuzzled her jaw again, even though he was still growling. "He approached my father with interest in a business partnership, and with interest in me as a potential wife. I like to think that the only reason my father agreed was that he trusted this man to partner with, and just made a mistake, but that's not true. Father knew this man. He knew that it was a dangerous thing to get too involved with him economically, even if it could save our family's fortune. In truth, I believe my father was mostly doing it to try and give me back my honor, my respectability. That if the families were tied together economically then this man would continue his interest in me."

"And you said no," Paul said flatly, and she nodded.

"I refused marriage and continued dancing," Cassie whispered. "He told my father that he was content to wait for me because my career was at a peak, but everyone knew my body was breaking down and that I wouldn't be able to dance much longer. But I danced and I danced. I danced until my bones broke. And then I kept dancing. It's stupid, but some part of me thought that maybe if my body moved fast enough, he would never catch me. And finally I broke, but by then he owned my father. My father has tried to get out, but it's too late. There's no way to extract our holding from his, and while he isn't mafia, some of his dealings are with people that are."

Paul was trembling now, and Cassie rubbed her nose into his chest. It wasn't helping. "Cass, why didn't you tell us?" he demanded, incensed. "Why didn't you tell _me_? I don't care how powerful this man is over there, one night and one wolf and it'll be done. Your family would be free of him. Why didn't you ask me for help?"

"And make you a killer?" Cassie asked, shaking her head. "Did you know that in not supporting the coup against Gorbachev that my father knew, he _knew_, he might be setting us all up to get killed? He could have been the tipping balance in that and he chose to refuse anyways, because he knew what was right for everyone, more than just for us and for himself. You say Calgary are killing humans and have to be stopped. But that would make you the same as them, Paul. The Pack has power, so much power, and like I told Jake, that power is frightening. But you're good men tempered by the fact that you've never done things like that. You fought the other wolves in the culled Pack, and you told me what that ended up being for you, how much it hurt you and your Pack to take lives like that. And those were wolves your equal."

"Cass, if this man is threatening you then it's different," Paul insisted.

"Have you ever seen someone die, Paul?" she wondered softly, running her nails along his bicep. "Someone who was just a human?"

He hesitated, then nodded gruffly. "Yeah. Yeah, last night Calgary's woman killed one of the people at the party, shot her in the head. I'm sorry, Cass, it was Charlotte." Cassie made a soft noise of pain at that knowledge, and it took her awhile to stop the tears that knowledge had brought. Paul was holding tighter, rocking her gently as she cried, but eventually the pain shifted to join the rest of the dull ache in her stomach, leaving Cassie just a little more disillusioned than before. She sniffed and tried to regain herself, her composure.

"I'm sorry baby," he whispered. "I wasn't hiding it from you, but you were so upset from Roman that I didn't want to hit you with that too."

"She was a nice girl, Paul." Cassie said, trying to smile. "We accidentally wore the same dress one time to a party in L.A., so we spent half the night pretending to be each other. She was sweet, and didn't deserve that."

"Cass, tell me why you won't let me help you," Paul insisted, bring her back to the subject at hand, and Cassie pressed her forehead to his chest.

"I've seen a lot of people go down the wrong path, Paul," she whispered sadly. "Cousins, friends, people who made bad decisions after the collapse of the Union. I've been behind the closed doors when the bad things happen, and you don't know how that changes someone. I've seen people who were kind and loving learn to commit atrocities. I'd known some of the men in that conference room my whole life, some older and friends with my father, some younger and friends with me. People I trusted, Paul, people I had laughed with and cared about."

Paul was growling again, harshly, and his arms around her were locked like a steel cage. She wondered if after this conversation if she would ever be able to make him accept why she had to go back to Russia. "I don't understand," he snarled, angry, so angry for her. "I don't understand how you can be sad about these bastards and not _hate_ them. I'd be willing to kill every fucking one of them for you if you just _hinted_ that you wanted that, Cass. I might just do it anyway."

"Paul, their worlds had changed, and they weren't the people they had used to be," Cassie insisted, "And once you start doing awful things, it's so easy to become desensitized to them. I don't want that for you, not because of me. If you kill a man, you can't take that back. And the next time something gets bad, it'll be easier to kill one again. My father knows this, and won't order his men to try and take out this man that owns us. He won't become a monster, not even for his family. And I won't let you become a monster, not even for me."

"I'm already a monster," he snapped and she hit him. It would be the only time in their lives that would ever happened, and it hurt her like hell because she hit him as hard as she could across the face. Paul looked stunned, and Cassie yelped in pain, but then she stared wordlessly at him. Paul rolled over on his back, bringing her across his upper chest.

"You little idiot," he grumbled, taking her wrist in his hand and rubbing her knuckles, which thankfully didn't seem to be broken. Cassie opened her mouth to tell him what a _horrible_ thing it was to call himself that, but Paul had already tipped his head to the side, completely exposing his throat to her. He tipped his head back even more in case she didn't understand how passive he was making himself in order to soften her displeasure, and it worried Cassie at how well it worked. She leaned down and experimented by touching the tips of her teeth to the skin of his throat and Paul shifted beneath her, growling softly. It was a different growl, one she understood as his hand slid up her arm and down her back, his hand cupping her ass and squeezing.

"You're not a monster, Paul," Cassie whispered, sucking lightly at the skin of his neck and he groaned when she worked her way to his pulse point. "You'll never be a monster, and I _won't_ listen to you call yourself one."

He was aroused again, it had come on quickly, but they were newly mated to each other, and she was in danger. The safest place for her was under him, and he was under her, and that made it all the more intense for both of them. His arm wrapped around her hips, jerking her down to his, and Cassie moaned as he was suddenly inside her again. This time was fast and as hard as Paul was willing to let himself, still convinced and rightly so that too much enthusiasm on his part could hurt her. Cassie wasn't the type that could find pleasure fast enough for this kind of sex, but she didn't mind. She loved him, and she was showing him, and it was nice to know that she could make him come undone too.

Paul let go with a snarl, then pulled her face to his, kissing her passionately. He rolled over and lowered himself so that his face was pressed to her stomach. "Keep talking, Cass," he panted against the vulnerable skin of her stomach. "Tell me what I need to know."

Breathless, Cassie complied, running her hands through Paul's short hair and he buried his nose into her abdomen, inhaling the smell of them deeply. He was using it to calm himself, and Cassie didn't fight it when he rested his forehead against her hipbone.

"My father has been looking for a way out," she told Paul, "but is trying to do so legitimately. Koldan on his own has tried to assassinate my father's business partner, but this man is too protected, and in response he's linked his illegitimate dealings too closely with my father. After the attempt, he set it up so that if anything happens to him, certain information on certain people will be released, and the blame will be on my father's shoulders. My father will go to jail, and the rest of us will most likely be killed for the supposed betrayal. This man has the family tied to him with no way out. So even if you did kill him, it would only make things worse. Trust me, if killing Afon was the answer, Koldan would have figured out a way to have done it a long time ago."

"Afon? This is the name of the fucker that caused everything last night? The one trying to kill your sister?"

Cassie shuddered at that but nodded. "It wasn't so much Ani as Koldan. My father loves Koldan like a son. He took a starving kid with nothing off the street and gave him a position of trust. Koldan is utterly loyal to the family, and he hates this man. Koldan's smart, smart enough to see through things my father's eyes don't see, and Koldan takes steps in private that my father never would. If Koldan was gone, this man would have no problems controlling my father, and my father's reputation is substantial. Already father's name has made this man a lot of money, and Koldan is trying everything he can do to stop it from happening. But Koldan will die to protect Ani, without hesitation, and my father may love Koldan, but if he lets Ani get killed, Koldan will be gone.

Cassie took a deep steadying breath, feeling Paul's heat dripping down her thigh, and somehow the reality of that gave her courage. "Last night was just a distraction to try and get Koldan to drop his guard. Roman called it a cluster fuck. He tried to get me out, but he died trying, or so it seems. If he's alive, he's been seen and he's as good as dead now. He'll never be able to resurface, and alive or dead, he's gone. I never should have gone there, but I did it anyways. Roman always said I was a horrible boss. But please don't hate him, Paul. He was the first man I slept with after that conference, and he got me through so many of my fears. I lost one of my best friends last night, and I'll never know if he's dead or not."

There were a lot of things that she had told Paul, but she didn't expect him to look at her very seriously and ask, "Do want me to find him?"

"Find who? Roman?"

"If he's alive, Cass, then I have ways of finding him," Paul told her. "Alice could help, and we've got good noses. It's almost dawn and the pups just got here, and now that we've got more of us around, I can get you out of here safely. But I can double back once we're clear of the city and try and find out."

Cassie was tempted, oh how she was tempted, but she shook her head. "No, Paul. If Roman is alive, then he needs to disappear for his own safety. I knew this from the start. And the Pack doesn't need the kind of attention that could bring on them. No, it's better this way."

Paul grunted, and then he sighed against her hipbone. "Cass, I believe you, but my guts says you're still not telling me everything. Something big."

"I'm going back to Russia when this trip is over Paul," she whispered, and Paul's head snapped up, his eyes instantly hot with protective fury. Cassie spoke faster, "Believe it or not, I'm actually pretty safe there. Until you, I only had Roman here for protection, and there Koldan keeps as many men on me as he kept on Ani last night. And it wouldn't be for long, a couple days, a week maybe. But Ani's not safe here, it's obvious, and I need to be around her, Paul. She needs me too. I ran here because I wanted away from Afon, but I left so much behind."

"I'll come with you," he growled, and Cassie shook her head.

"No, you'll draw attention to yourself and to the Pack. It's too dangerous."

"Then you're not going."

"Paul?" Cassie said gently. "You can't keep me a prisoner, even if I love being with you here. I need to be able to see my family, last night I realized that more than ever, and I need to not worry about you when I'm doing it. Just for a couple days, okay? If it's too dangerous, I'll get Koldan to get me back here to you and then I'll never go back again. I _promise_, Paul. But you have to be willing to let me do this and not try to follow me. This isn't a 'Paul can kill the bad guy and everyone's happy' kind of situation. It's just life, and you have to trust me that Koldan and my father are doing everything they can to get us out of it. You going in there breaking heads isn't going to help, it may actually hurt."

"You're asking too much of me," he snarled softly, and Cassie sighed.

"You know, it's been bothering me for a while why Sims looked so upset that day at the party, but now I get it. She looked at Jake, and he _terrified_ her. He controls all of you, and he could take everything from her on his whim. That's frightening, I know what that feels like. And I fight in more passive ways, but Sims goes head to head, regardless of how it hurts. She's scared of Jake. She's scared to death of the power he has over her life and herself, but I've never been scared of you, Paul. I've never felt like you could take my life from me and change it to suit your whim. It never occurred to me that you would even try."

Paul was silent for so long that Cassie wondered what he could be thinking. But then he lifted dark caramel eyes to hers and his expression was fierce. "I love you, Cass. You're my whole fucking world and you _know_ that. So if you're making me believe something I know better than to believe, than I'm going to be _furious_ with you. If you get hurt, even a scratch, I'm going to show you just exactly how effective my Pack can be. And if this room is bugged the way I think it is, then whoever's listening better know that too. I'm going to kill _anything_ that touches you."

He pressed his lips to her lower stomach, and then growled. "We do it your way, Cass, just once and then we'll see from there. But you need to know this. I don't care how much you love your family, to me they betrayed you."

"No, they-," Cassie started to defend them, but he growled again and this time it was _at_ her.

"_Yes_, Cass, they did. And betrayal is the worst thing you can do to someone, especially to someone who loves as hard as you do. So you might not want me keeping you here and keeping you safe, but to me, letting you go feels like me betraying you too. I know better, but I'm going to trust you, Cass. But your family…they betrayed you, and your sister aside, they don't get any second chances with me. They don't get any more chances to damage you, and the moment I get the rest of _my_ family inside you, they won't get within fifty feet of you without me by your side. You're important and you matter and they let you get hurt. I won't."

"Your family?" Cassie looked up at him with wide eyes. "Paul? What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you're mine," he told her, moving over her once again and kissing her deeply. "_My_ world, _my_ family. We can make our own family, Cass, our own life together. I'll spend my whole life trying to make you happy, and I promise you this now, _this_ man doesn't have morals when it comes to protecting his own. You keep being you, Cass, I need your goodness and your faith in my life. But remember, momma, you need me too. The world has shown you that. You need me because I'm willing to do the things you aren't, and just because you love everything else more than yourself doesn't mean you're right. Learn your lesson, Cass. And if letting you go back blows up in my face, I'll come find you, and they're going to see just how dangerous I really am."

Cassie nodded, not sure what to say, but she didn't have to say anything. Paul was done talking, his decision made, and he wouldn't keep pressing the issue. He would however hold her accountable, and that made Cassie tremble, because she knew, she _knew_ if Paul knew more, he'd never let her go back. But there were things that even Paul couldn't know, and already she'd shared too much. When she trembled, her wolf rolled her back up into his arms, and he must have thought she was cold, because he pulled the blankets up to her chin, wrapping them both up. It was a good thing too, because Collin chose that moment to come bouncing through the door and to jump on the bed.

"Hey papa wolf!" Collin said cheerfully as Cassie yelped in surprise and Paul cursed, scrambling to keep the naked imprint from being exposed as Collin wiggled his way between them on top of the blankets. "Hey Cass, did you guys miss me?"

"Dammit, Collin!" Paul roared, "Get the hell out of here!" But Collin had already draped an arm around both Cassie and Paul's waists, and he was happily snuggling in, and for the first time since last night, Cassie laughed. It was a real laugh, softer than normal, but real.

It saved Collin's life. For the moment.

* * *

Clad once more in clothes forever unfamiliar, Jack was seated cross legged on the carpeted floor. His eyes were closed and he was facing the east as he apologized to the ancestors, something he had been doing every morning at sunrise for centuries. Their angry voices in his head, whispering at his betrayal, a betrayal long since passed, indicated that they hadn't come anywhere close to forgiving him yet.

Well, it never hurt to ask.

The young wolves had entered the room only moments prior, and even with his back to them, Jack could feel their movements. The smell of the Third and his mate permeated the one side of the room, a combination of sex and sadness so thick that it made the youngest one sneeze. The second pup's attention was drawn to the other room, where the scent of Alpha and anger and hurt drifted about. Both glanced to him and hesitated. They were wary of him, he was Pack and they more dominant, but they were still respectful of his strengths. Jack appreciated that, he was respectful of their strengths as well. However they were pups, not used to knowing what to do without orders, and while Jack was very good at following orders, at one point in his very long life he had been good at issuing them as well.

They should wake the Alpha and wait for the Third, was Jack's silent opinion, and after a moment of hesitation, the second one did just that, heading towards her room. Thoughts were expressed in physical form, and the muscles on the body shifted and responded to these thoughts. If one was watching for, or better yet, listening to the movements of the muscles, one could know in human form the general idea of what their Packmate was thinking. It was a very convenient thing, albeit hard for the youngest wolves still in their first few generations to learn, and some were better than others. Of the young wolves, only the Alpha's ever seemed halfway proficient.

The first wolf seemed surprised that his friend would go in the Alpha's room unbidden, and was also wondering if maybe he should go bother the Third and his mate.

Jack sighed, re-thinking his suggestion as loudly as he could. He even disrupted his prayers enough to frown, after all, it was no good for a pup to die because his elders hadn't taught him how to properly behave. Still, a rabbit hops happily into the talons of the eagle, if it insists on being blind, deaf, and dumb. The first pup whistled happily and made a dart into the Third's room, and as the Third began chastising him angrily, Jack wondered if perhaps this Pack of puppies would ever manage to not kill themselves before realizing their true potentials. It really was too bad that the ancestors were still angry with him. If they would stop screaming in his head, driving him nearly insane in their fury, there was a lot that Jack could teach his Pack.

Jack's first Alpha thought that perhaps he should teach them anyways. Curling beneath the weight of that voice, long dead, Jack quivered and prayed harder.

* * *

It had been a long night, and even with combining their noses with the Cullen's, they still hadn't caught the vampire. This one was a tricky bastard, using the storm to its advantage, and despite Collin's uncanny knack at finding its scent before he and Brady had left, they kept losing it. With exhaustion, Leah padded up the cliffs to where Embry had spent the night battling himself for his soul. For the moment it seemed that he had won, but they knew it wasn't that easy. It seemed these days that nothing ever was.

Embry had once again let his wolf slide into the place of control, his eyes chocolaty black, and was once more struggling to find just what it would take to wrest that control back to himself. Sweat poured down his limbs, and it was distressing to see when Embry was seated cross legged on the edges of the cliff, his muscles barely moving. His face was twisted in pain, and he was breathing deeply through his nose in small short breathes, as if winded. Leah fought the urge to move to his side, to wrap around him and try and protect him from himself. But this was Embry's fight, and Leah knew her place.

Usually. That was why Jake had called her here, his voice angry in her head before he had phased back human. Leah knew she was in trouble, but it was kind of hard to care when she was this exhausted.

Jake was waiting for her, a dozen yards away from Embry, standing with his arms crossed and his face solemn. Leah stayed wolf a moment longer, dropping to her belly next to her Alpha, leaning into his leg as his large hand ran soothing over her back. She enjoyed the touch, drank in the attention, but finally sighed and phased human. If she was going to take an ass chewing, she'd rather do it human anyways. Not bothering to re-clothe herself, Leah stood at her Alpha's side. Jake kept his eyes on Embry, watching for any slightest sign that Embry was in danger of losing permanently to the wolf, but he rested his hand on the back of Leah's neck. It might have been a friendly gesture in a different world, but in theirs it was a sign of dominance, and Leah was too tired to assert herself. She didn't bow her head to him submissively, but she didn't push her head back either.

"That was stupid, Lee-lee," Jake said quietly, but she could hear the underlying anger in his voice. "For you to run that far without one of us, it was really fucking stupid. Do you know how lucky you are that nothing happened?"

"You're getting paranoid, Jake," Leah said in reply, watching Embry with worried eyes. Just because the Pack still had to function, do their jobs, didn't mean they weren't all right here in their hearts, fighting this battle with him. "You're not giving me enough credit to protect myself."

"Paul tangled with Calgary last night, and Saskatchewan has been clear in his interest in you," Jake growled. "If you want to run until your paws fall off, that's on you, but I'm a little preoccupied at the moment and can't be watching you every second if you slip the borders."

"Preoccupied with saving your _imprint's_ boyfriend?" Leah said drolly, and she saw the flash of hurt in his eyes. Jake slanted a look at her, and his hand left her neck, trailed down between her shoulder blades, stopped at the curve of her bare hip.

"I'm sorry, Lee-lee," he told her softly. "It doesn't change things for me. You never came out and said anything, but we both would have liked more than just being friends. Now that I don't have to worry about imprinting anymore-"

"Naw, I think I'm good, Jake," Leah shrugged. "Samantha's the only friend I have, and she told you to go fuck yourself in the most painfully obvious way possible. And I can appreciate the balls that took for her, how it must have fucked her up inside, because I _know_ how hard the imprint bond ties the two people together. Emily taking Sam betrayed me, but if I took you, that kind of feels even worse. Like I'm taking your side over hers, and I have to admit it, you're the dick that imprinted on her and wrecked her life. Sorry Jake. I love you and all, but I'm on her side. So this is me telling you to go fuck yourself, too. Nicely, of course, you're still my Alpha."

His hand dropped away. And then Jake laughed and his hand was back, pulling her closer to his side. "Your sense of loyalty is a little messed up, Lee-lee. But I get it." He gave her a playful look. "Do you at least want to try messing around? That could be fun."

"Only if I can't find someone more interesting," Leah smirked. "I hear I'm a hot commodity these days, you never know who I might meet."

"You're mine, Leah," Jake growled lightly, looking down at her and Leah smiled as she looked up at the huge man at her side.

"You want to know something, Jake? I'm starting to think that maybe I'm not. I'm starting to think I'm _mine_, and there's nothing any of you boys can do about it."

"Please don't run off again, Leah," Jake asked her this time, sounding only worried, and Leah nodded before stepping away. She wouldn't. At least not yet, not until the soft pull towards the south was as equal as the pulls from both the north and the east. Not until those pulls became anywhere close to the choke hold her own Pack had on her. She wondered if she should tell the Alpha that he had several more reminding her constantly that Jake wasn't the only one out there. Smiling as she phased back, Leah decided that no, she'd keep that just to herself.

After all, it never hurt to keep one's options open.

* * *

A large hand lightly brushing Samantha's shoulder made her jerk awake. She snapped up in bed, instantly alert and a little panicked, and the hand closed over her shoulder to stead her. Samantha had been dreaming bad dreams, feeling like something ominous and small had been watching her throughout the night, and had been sleeping lightly enough to stay on her guard. But instead of Paul or Jack waking her, it was Brady kneeling next to her bed, looking a little surprised at her quick motion.

"It's just me," he told her, as Samantha's eyes scanned the room quickly just once, just in case. The action was not lost on Brady, and he frowned. "Everything's fine. Emb's right, you don't sleep deeply unless you're with him."

"M'not _with_ Embry anymore," Samantha murmured tiredly, slumping beneath the hand on her shoulder and rubbing her face wearily. The words were out of her mouth before the actuality of them hit, and Samantha actually rocked back from the pain of them. She felt Brady's hand squeeze, he must have smelled her sudden distress, and for a moment she actually leaned into his hand. She couldn't remember the last time she leaned into anyone deliberately that wasn't Embry, and Samantha felt the world turn upside down. But she was a tough girl, and two days of being crushed by Embry's leaving her was two days enough. She turned her face up to Brady and gave him a lopsided smile. "Time to get used to it, I guess. Along with random men showing up in my bedroom."

"You okay?" he asked softly, and Samantha realized she was tired of feeling like she wasn't okay. She was tired of feeling worried and exhausted and overwhelmed. She was tired of being frightened of that place that burned in her belly with the faintest presence of someone else, and she was more than tired of being miserable. So just because she could, Samantha crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Brady. He blinked in surprise.

"What was that for?" he asked, a little taken aback, and Samantha yawned sleepily, determined to just be Samantha today and not the let behind half of Samantha and Embry.

"For waking me up without supplying some source of caffeine. Damn, why do I feel like I only got a couple hours of sleep?"

"Because you did. It's four thirty in the morning, some stuff went down last night at Cassie's party and Paul called in me and Collin for backup," Brady explained quietly, and Samantha's remaining grogginess slipped away completely.

"What do you mean, _backup_?" she asked warily, and Brady's hand dropped away as she leaned forward towards him.

"Calgary was at the Party last night," Brady said with a low growl, sounding very unhappy. "All lower ranking wolves but a lot of them. Some other shit went down too, but Paul's figuring that out with Cassie right now. The only reason you guys are still here is that it's a public place and Paul and Jack could put you girls in a bathroom and defend it for days if necessary. We're more vulnerable moving, so he wanted the extra bodies to protect you girls."

Samantha sighed and scratched her cast. "You know, this whole imprint thing sounds like more of a pain in the ass to everyone involved than a good thing. We're walking around with targets on our heads and you guys are running around trying to be human shields. How is that healthy or normal?"

Brady chuckled and took her arm, looking at it carefully. "Stop scratching, you're only going to make the itching worse. Trust me, I know, I broke my arm falling out of Collin's tree when I was seven."

"Cue dramatic rescue scene from the Collin clan?" Samantha murmured, swinging her legs out of bed and cracking her neck. She was still wearing what she had been last night, but Brady still politely averted his eyes when she stretched her arm over her head and yawned. Samantha thought that was kind of sweet. Brady gave her a lopsided grin.

"More like a completely calm Collin putting me in his Radio Flyer wagon and tugging me down the street towards the main road leading out to Forks," Brady grinned. "Collin figured we'd better get to the Forks hospital and fix it before someone found out and we got in trouble."

Samantha chuckled at that and wandered into the bathroom, confident that Brady could still hear her. "Partners in crime from the first?" she asked around her toothbrush as she brushed her teeth.

"Something like that," Brady murmured, sounding amused. He must have wandered over to the bathroom, but he stayed outside, giving her privacy, something she appreciated. "Hey listen, Sims, Cass had a real bad night last night. You're the only girl here and she doesn't really…well, I think that she doesn't really have any female friends to talk to. She gets along with Emily and Kim great, but you're…"

"But I'm what, Brady?" Samantha asked, rolling around the doorframe with the toothbrush still hanging out of her mouth. Brady gave her an odd look, then crossed his arms, letting his shoulders slump a little as he leaned against the wall. It was a passive posture, and Samantha wondered that one, she knew it, and two, that he would do it to her. Then he gave her an awkward smile.

"You're the dominant imprint here, Sims," Brady said softly. "And I know we're not your favorite people in the world, but we're tied to you just as much as you're tied to us. Pack is here to make you feel better, but you're also here to make us feel better. Especially because you're Jake's imprint. We're all Pack, but we're _Jake's_ Pack. And that means…" He trailed off uncomfortably, and Samantha frowned, rolling back inside the bathroom to spit out her toothpaste.

"It means that on some level you're my Pack too," Samantha finished for him, washing her mouth out with water and sighing as she leaned over the sink, hand braced. "Brady, doesn't all of this ever strike you as total bullshit? But everyone's so used to it that you don't know any differently anymore?"

"The first time you saw us, what did you first think?" Brady suddenly appeared in the doorway, gripping the doorjamb above his head, and Samantha turned around looking at him. "Not Embry, not Leah, but the rest of us. That day in school, what did you think?"

Samantha bowed her head, and then suddenly she laughed, and she smiled prettily at him. "I wanted to play basketball too. Instead of sitting there eating my peanut butter sandwich, I wanted to be playing basketball with a whole mess of guys who I'd never met before. Okay, you got me there."

Brady grinned back, and then tipped his head to the side. "Want to know what we thought?"

"Not really."

"Want to know what Seth thought?"

"Definitely not," Samantha said cheekily.

"How about me?"

"Okay," Samantha caved. "What did you think?"

Brady blushed a bit, but still grinned. "I thought it was funny that a new girl with a sandwich took the table that all the hot girls used to sit at so they could watch us play. You ran them off all on your own without even doing a thing, and that there wasn't a single one of us that would say anything about it. You wanted that table, it was yours. It kind of pissed me off a little at the time, but it makes sense now why no one would say anything about it."

Samantha chuckled, but then her smile slipped away and she looked down at her shoes. "Do you think it's too late to make a break for it?" she asked Brady quietly. "Because I kind of feel like I'm surrounded by a whole bunch of hot guys with glasses of Kool Aid, and I'm still not sure I want to drink."

Brady shifted towards her, but his hands stayed on the jamb, and kept him from actually stepping closer. "None of us asked for this, Sims, and trust me. I was thirteen when I phased, and I had a lot of my own shit to deal with. My head was not the kind that everyone wanted in theirs, but they accepted me and I accepted them. It's weird and it's different, but it's not bad."

"Brady, if I asked you to sit on the floor would you?" Samantha asked curiously, and Brady tilted his head to the side.

"If you asked nicely enough and I didn't have a better reason not to," Brady said with a casual shrug, and she could see in his eyes he knew where this was going. "If you _told_ me to I would feel compelled to do it to cater to you, but probably wouldn't have to. If you needed that from me, more than anything in the world, my ass would probably be on the ground before I knew what I was doing. We obey Jake. You're his imprint, which means that you're tied to him. You know what that means, or you never would have done that shit to your arm. Your discomfort hurts him, and we'd do anything for him, which means we'll do just about anything for you."

"Brady…

"But he'll do anything for us, Sims. Our Alpha protects us, all of us. And Cass has been crying all night, Paul smells shaken up, and it wouldn't hurt to have your support, Sims. Whether you want it to or not, your support holds weight with us."

Samantha sighed and caved, asking, "What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know. Hug her? Tell her everything's going to be okay? I'm not good with making girls feel better," Brady mumbled, and Samantha smiled as she rolled her deodorant on and then adjusted her messy ponytail. She grabbed her things and walked over to Brady, putting her hand on his chest and patting it lightly.

"You're better than you think, Brady," she promised him, then ducked under his arm and went back into her room to pull a shirt out of her duffle. Getting it one with one arm was a little awkward but she managed eventually. Brady again averted his eyes, but he didn't leave, and Samantha raised an eyebrow at him. "Brady? Did Paul assign you to me?"

"Yeah, for this trip at least, I'm assigned to you." Samantha nodded, and Brady seemed a little surprised that she wasn't throwing a fit about it. "Is that cool?" he asked a bit uncertainly and Samantha shrugged.

"I don't have a choice do I?"

"Yeah, but you do have an opinion."

"My opinion is that Paul is a sneaky bastard and he's playing Pack on me. I was getting along with Jack pretty well last night, and you're one of the few guys in the Pack that doesn't make me feel on the defensive. If this dominance submission shit is true, than he's putting me with the wolves that I'm the least likely to butt heads with," she muttered, and then Samantha felt bad, realizing how that sounded. "I'm sorry, Brady, I didn't mean-"

Brady glanced at her and shrugged, saying, "It's cool. I know my place in the Pack and it's pretty low. And I deserve it, when you and Emb were starting to go through everything, I said some pretty mean shit about you, Sims. I'm sorry by the way."

"For offering to fuck me so I wasn't squeaky clean anymore?" she smirked and Brady went crimson, suddenly coughing on air. "I know, I know, you were just trying to piss Embry off," she continued, waving off her comment as Brady tried to regain his composure. "We're cool. I just have a hard time with all of this, and the one person that knows me, that could help me get it won't even talk to me…"

Samantha felt a deep pain in her stomach at the thought of the man she loved so very much, but shook her head, trying to force that sideways. She'd fallen apart enough over Embry. If he didn't want her around, Samantha couldn't change that. Brady was looking at her sympathetically, which was a little too close to pity for Samantha's taste, so she threw her deodorant at him just because. Brady caught it easily, then lobbed it into her duffle.

"You ready?" Brady asked, and Samantha nodded, zipping her bag and hefting it over her shoulder. Brady glanced at her, and then frowned. "Listen, Sims, we don't think Calgary wants to come back here, they brought enough attention onto themselves. But if they do, it's going to be a fight. Get behind me, get your back to a wall or a corner preferably, and ball up. I can protect a small target easier than a big one. And I know you can carry your own bag, but until we get clear of here, I should be the one carrying it so nothing's weighing you down."

Samantha opened her mouth to argue, and then sighed again and handed over the bag. "Really Brady, are you sure you guys want imprints around? We're a pain in the ass."

"Some more than others," he murmured and Samantha kicked him in the knee. "See?"

"We should have a code word," she said in a deadpan tone. "Like if you come running, yelling 'fluffy bunny attack' I know I'm about to die."

Brady looked at her as if she were insane, and for the first time that morning, he looked just like the sixteen year old teenage boy that he actually was. "Fluffy bunny attack? Dude, that's the lamest code word ever. And it's a code phrase."

Realizing her was taking her seriously, Samantha decided to play along. She snagged her bag back from Brady and held it hostage behind her back, saying very seriously, "Come one, just try it out once, Brady, you'll like it."

He started shaking his head vehemently. "No fucking way, Sims. Over my dead body."

"Just try it once!" she cajoled, kicking at his knee again as Brady snagged her bag back. "One time, I'll do it for you first, and you'll like it. I _promise_."

"Do you know how much shit I'll get if I do that, Sims?" Brady grinned, sidestepping another attack. She might have been armless on her left side, but her balance was impeccable, so Samantha allowed herself to land Brady a solid thump in the stomach with her foot as she hooked her bag once more and pulled. Brady wasn't expecting that and let go of the duffle as he stumbled back a little to try and save her foot from getting jarred. It wasn't necessary, Samantha had sparred with Embry plenty enough to know exactly how much to pull her kicks. Samantha was smirking as his shoulders hit the wall with a thump, and she dropped the bag on the bed and sat on it protectively, her legs dangling.

"Come on, Brady," Samantha said playfully. "Fluffy bunny attack. No one will have to know."

"_I'll_ know," he countered with a chuckle, straightening off the wall and glancing at the closed bedroom door.

"If everyone's getting ready to go than we don't have much time, Brady," she warned. "Unless you want to do it in front of everyone else?"

"_No_." He was caving, she could see it, but he most definitely didn't want to declare the fluffy bunny attack in front of his Packmates. He walked over to her and nudged her hip with his knee, but she stuck her feet straight out, balancing even more securely on the duffle.

"We can go lock ourselves in the bathroom and do it," she offered very seriously again, and Brady sighed in exasperation. It was funny, he really thought she meant it.

"Fuck it, okay fine. _Fine_, but just _once_. And you can't tell _anyone_, especially not Embry."

"Embry's not even talking to me, Brady, what does he care?" Samantha said quietly, and this time her seriousness was real. "Embry broke up with me…and to be honest, I really don't want to talk about him."

Brady was silent and then he gave her a pained look. "Really? Fluffy bunny attack? Can't we have massive sharks with laser beams attack? That's at least cooler."

Samantha bit her grin and hit him with hopeful eyes. "Come on, Brady, I need this. It'll be good for me, even I need to let loose and have fun too. Please?"

Brady had caved completely at the look on her face, so he sighed and grabbed her duffle, jerking it hard enough out from under her that she ended up falling flat on her back on the bed. "Just once, Sims," he warned. "Once, okay?"

"You'll like it Brady," she promised, grinning as he stood over her and looked mortified to even be considering doing this with his Third and Jack in the other room. Collin was one thing, but there were wolves here that Brady greatly respected, and once again, he was going to make an ass out of himself for a girl. And it wasn't even _his_ girl, it was his friend's girl, or maybe his Alpha's girl, or maybe a girl that didn't want anyone at all. But not _his_ girl. Brady was pretty sure he was a shmuck.

"You'll like it," Samantha was grinning even bigger at the young wolf, "And you know you'll want to do it again and again and _again_…"

"Shut up and just do it, okay?" Brady sighed as Samantha sat up and scratched her itchy cast covered arm against his non-cast covered one.

"In the bathroom?" she teased, and Brady shook his head.

"Here," Brady growled. "Ready?"

"Ready?"

Silence, then Samantha started laughing out loud as Brady's face puckered up. He was so serious it was comical, like he was trying and failing miserably in being goofy. He needed to take lessons from Collin.

"Brady, come _on_!" Samantha gasped, unable to maintain her mock seriousness. "Just do it already!"

"I'm working up to it, okay?" he snapped back, flushing bright red. "You laughing at me isn't helping!"

"We don't _have_ to, if it's that big of a deal," she finally stopped teasing him, but Brady was all riled up now, and he growled at the bed next to her, not directly at her.

"Bullshit, we _are_ doing it, and you're not backing out, Sims."

"Even if I say no?" she asked, breathless from laughing so hard, and he took her cast in his hand, pulling away her broken arm from where she was scratching it. He stared at her reddened flesh disapprovingly.

"You're going to be all welted up when you're done," Brady warned her about her cast, and she shrugged, still smiling. "Now on the count of three, and you better get ready. One, two, _three_!"

Brady and Samantha simultaneously yelled "FLUFFY BUNNY ATTACK!" right at the same time that Paul came crashing through the door and slammed his fist in Brady's face.

* * *

"Dude, you are such a _dick_."

Stretched out on the floor of the Shaggin' Waggin', Brady flipped Paul off. His words were muffled by the large bag of ice draped over his head, but the finger said it all. The young wolf's body heat was too much for a normal ice pack so they had a supply of ten pound ice bags that they were periodically switching out from being draped over Brady's battered form. Paul hadn't just broken Brady's nose, he had also done some pretty severe damage to the rest of Brady's face. It had been enough that Brady had been knocked out cold, and his shattered cheekbone was having to painfully mend itself.

Far from feeling guilty at the misunderstanding, from the driver's seat, Paul just smirked and signaled a lane change, not regretful at all. Brady should have been watching himself more carefully, and Paul had more important things to worry about than a bloodied pup.

It had been a tense trip through the hotel, with Cassie and Sims barely visible between the four wolves, and the thundercloud on Brady's broken and bleeding face had sent the other guests scrambling out of their way. Sims had been on edge from the possible threat, but Cassie had just held her squirrel close and calmly went as they directed, as if this was normal for her. Now that Paul knew more, it occurred to him that it was. If Paul had known she would be so complacent about it, he might have put wolves on her from the very beginning. Then they had stuffed the girls in the Shaggin' Waggin' and gotten the hell out of dodge, the hell out of Vancouver, and the hell out of Canada.

Jack and Collin had slipped Sims over the border while Paul and Brady had driven with Cass. They were headed to Yellowstone by way of Seattle, and Paul was tempted to just head home instead of continuing on. But they had a job to do, and Jake had sent Collin and Brady instead of allowing Paul to come home. Jake didn't want Samantha in town, and that made Paul wonder if Embry was worse off than any of them knew. Emb had survived the night, but if Jake would rather have his imprint in harm's way than in La Push and surrounded by Pack, it meant that Jake thought the greatest risk to her was back in La Push. Whatever Jake was doing with Embry, Paul realized he needed to buy Jake and Emb more time. Paul had already squashed his desire to get home, thinking that if he had to draw this trip out, they might as well try to have some fun. It would be good for them all, and his imprint sure as hell could use a break.

Paul was trying very hard not to think about the things Cassie had shared that morning. After all, he had already thrashed Brady too much because of his own frustrations. It wouldn't do to have Cass know he was tempted start randomly destroying things.

"In Paul's defense, it did sound pretty incriminating in there, Brade," Collin was saying honestly, although he too was smirking. As he had always been, Collin was a good friend. He had only laughed _after_ Brady had been shaken back conscious, and they had reset his nose before that just to be nice. Samantha however had been merciless, and even as she sat cross legged at his head and helped hold the ice bag on, she was still laughing.

"No one would have interfered if you hadn't have said the whole welting part," Cassie promised, smiling proudly at Paul. Pyatno was tucked in her arms and she was cuddling the thing close to her chest. "Paul didn't like that."

"I think purple's a good look for a nose, Brady," Collin added helpfully and Brady flipped him off too. The only ones Brady hadn't flipped off today had been Cassie and Jack. Cassie had been spared because Brady wasn't stupid, and Jack because again, Brady wasn't stupid. Jack had been out scouting as they drove, so Brady just had to make sure he didn't aim his hand in the single direction of the little blonde imprint.

"My whole _face_ is purple!"

"Well, Paul punches hard," Collin shrugged. "Serves you right for having not sex with the Alpha's imprint while we were all waiting for you."

"Paul and I used to have not sex all the time, and welting was never a part of it," Cassie added seriously, although from the twinkle in her eye, Paul could see she was just teasing the pup.

His imprint was subdued, but she was trying to keep her smile on her face. It wasn't a fake one, and it was much smaller than normal, but he could see her trying to be strong. Paul was proud of her. In sharing so much of her past and her fears with him, she had placed her trust in him. Even from a couple feet away, she was leaning on him, and Paul was strong enough to hold them both up until she had her pretty little feet back beneath her.

And for the record, he didn't think her toes were ugly at all. If there was one thing that his imprint had taught him, it was that squashed and damaged and broken could still be beautiful.

"Be nice you guys, it was my fault," Sims was chuckling, and she looked in better spirits today than she had yesterday. If the scent of her worry and sadness over Embry hadn't been so strong around her, Paul might have even bought it. Cassie was looking a little wan, and in his rush to get them out of town and over the border, he hadn't fed her. Cassie tended to not eat when she was preoccupied, so Paul reached out a hand and patted her knee to get her attention. Pyatno bit him just to see if it had any affect yet, but it didn't, and Paul flicked the squirrel in the nose in rebuke.

"Hey, momma, you hungry at all?" he asked, giving her a little smile. "There's a truck stop a bit up the road and we need gas anyways."

Cassie looked tired but she returned the smile and hefted Pyatno a little closer. Paul had to hand it to the squirrel, it seemed quite peaceful in her arms, and its presence was soothing her. Pyatno was telling himself that he was staying there because her seat was a tactical advantage and he could make a break for it the moment the door was open. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that She-Who-Scratches-Ears was living up to her new namesake.

"I've never been to a truck stop," Cassie said, mustering up a bit of her normal enthusiasm. "I have heard lots of interesting things about them, though. Do they really all have porn shops and showers and omelets the size of my head? Or would they be the size of your head? Your head is a little bigger than mine, Paul. Is it on a head by head basis, or a head standard?"

From the back of the Winnebago, someone snickered, but ice was covering the sound, so it was unclear who it was. Paul chuckled and squeezed her knee before straightening back in his seat. "Sometimes I wonder where you get your information from, Cass," he told her fondly. "The internet has not been good to you."

She normally would have come back with a perky reply, but instead she just smiled a little again and went back to petting her squirrel. A pair of large russet arms wrapped around her from behind her seat, it was Collin, and the young wolf ignored the angrily chittering squirrel as he enveloped her in a hug. "Food sounds good," Collin said cheerfully, winking at Paul. "Can't neglect your young, papa wolf."

"Collin, quit squashing my woman," Paul growled good naturedly, and Collin squeezed her tighter.

"She likes hugs, and I'm just giving her the attention she deserves," he teased, but then he rested his chin on her headrest and frowned. "Cass, you want to stretch out in the back and get some sleep? This thing has a bed, and you look exhausted. We can have food waiting for you when you wake up."

Cassie shook her head and patted Collin's arm. "No, I'm reserving my sleeping for Paul sleep. Paul sleep is much better, he keeps the empty rooms away."

"Not sure what that means, Cass," Collin told her quietly, and Cassie shook her head, snuggling against his arm and cuddling Pyatno closer.

"She has nightmares, Collin," Paul murmured, casting a look at Cassie, who was batting her pinkie against Pyatno's paw. "She has less when she's with me." Thinking that the paw tapping was an attempt at communication, Pyatno was indulging She-Who-Scratches-Ears, although frequently he became frustrated with her inability to interpret squirrel Morse code. He should have brought a nut.

"I don't mind the truck stop," Cassie decided, glancing back at the passengers on the floor. "Brady? Sims? Are you hungry?"

"I was before Paul broke my face," Brady mumbled sourly as Sims casually dropped another heavy bag of ice on said countenance.

"We're out of ice anyways," Sims said, seeming to enjoy herself slightly as she pushed at the pieces of ice in the bag around to contour to Brady's features. "This is the last bag."

"Stop being a pussy, Brady," Paul barked, and just because he could, he made it a command. Brady cursed at Paul but sat up, removing the ice from his head and adopting a stoic expression. He also belted the ice at Paul's head, although Collin snagged it before it had a chance to hit the Third.

"Maybe you should add aggressive bitch in that description," Collin chuckled, and Sims suddenly smirked.

"Hey, Brady, that's my role," Sims said teasingly, kicking him in the foot. "Back off my shtick."

"We never should have let you play with Leah," Collin sighed dramatically. "You were such a nice girl."

"She was harassing small children the night I met her," Paul countered. "Sims was _never_ a nice girl."

Sims smiled a little at that, but said nothing, her smile eventually falling. The first night she had met Paul was the first unofficial date she had been on with Embry, and Paul still remembered the expression on her face when she had come in the bar with Emb. Hesitant, there were a lot of unfamiliar people around and she wasn't sure about them, but pleased too every time Embry touched her or smiled at her. Sims had spared Paul a few looks and had joked around with the pups, but she had been completely focused on Embry. At the time the Pack had known that Emb was starting to have some problems when phased, but those problems were easy to forget because of how much the damn kid went on and on about Joe Carter's daughter. Sims had been a pain in Paul's ass because Seth had insisted he put a wolf on her while she wandered around at night, but Embry had been smitten at first sight.

Embry had practically beamed at Paul that night he and Sims had come by, and Paul had chosen to take his break early to eat with them just because he knew Emb wanted so badly to show her off. Paul hadn't cared at first who Emb dated, but there had been a split second that night, when Sims had smelled of shame when she admitted to Embry that she couldn't pay for her food, and the smell of her shame had sent Paul into an utter rage. So much so that he had been forced to leave the table so he couldn't smell her anymore, and that had always stayed in the back of Paul's mind and had never settled right with him. From the start, as much as those two loved each other, they had always been _wrong_.

That was a hard pill for any girl to swallow and Sims wasn't stupid. She was however a girl in love.

And even now, even as bad as things had become, Embry still loved Sims too. He loved her with everything he had. Imprint or not, Sims was the girl of Emb's dreams, and it was obvious he was the guy of hers. Paul looked at his imprint, cuddled up with her squirrel and a broken heart, and he looked at Jake's imprint, cuddled up with a broken arm and another broken heart, and he sighed. He really was no good at this shit. Slanting a glance at Collin, the younger pup caught his eye and nodded. Collin knew why Paul wanted him here and would do his best, and so Collin hugged Cassie tighter, tickling her sides and making her smile again.

It was about twenty miles to the truck stop, and the restlessness of the pups when stuck in a moving vehicle could always be counted on. Collin had wedged himself between the driver's and passenger's seats and was playing with the map, making Cassie show him every place she'd been to. Paul was a little surprised, he had thought she had been all over the country, but really she had only spent time in a couple major cities. Each one she pointed to Collin would ask her what she liked about that place the most, and he had her smile growing a little bigger when he kept saying her choices weren't dirty enough and she needed to find better things to like.

Cass liked the naked triplets on top of the skyscraper in New York, because two's company but three is never a crowd. Collin would agree. She liked the foot long hotdogs in Chicago, no explanations needed, but Collin insisted on one anyways. She liked that five star sushi place in Los Angeles where you could order your group's sushi served on a very attractive and very naked person, but Collin didn't believe her. That never happened. That was one of those cool things that was too cool to actually happen. No really, you could, it was just insanely expensive. And the girl wasn't exactly naked unless you moved the strategically placed lettuce leaves. She'd have to prove it to them, because Collin didn't believe her. Well, okay, if they wanted to…

"No naked girls covered in sushi, Collin," Paul said firmly, before honking the horn at a car that cut him off. He hadn't thought about what he was doing, and then sighed as puppies began yapping loudly. Collin grinned and hit Cassie with big hopeful eyes, saying, "You're not going to let papa wolf ruin all of our fun, are you Cass?"

"Paul? Do you like sushi?" Cassie asked him curiously as Pyatno gave up all attempts at communication and settled up on She-Who-Stopped-Scratching's shoulder, once more performing reconnaissance on She-Who-Has-The-Foot-Of-Death. That one was sneaky, and seemed to know he was watching. He would glance up over the seat, ears pinned to be more unnoticeable, and peer at her. She kept looking up, but Pyatno was swift, and hid with many hidings every time.

"I prefer my meat cooked, Cass. Although if someone wants to serve me French fries on a naked lady, I'm perfectly fine with that," Paul chuckled, winking at a smirking Cassie. Collin however was shaking his head vigorously.

"Oh no, Paul," Collin said, sounding a little horrified. "That would be bad. Have you ever seen a woman with burning hot grease on her-"

"And there's the truck stop!" Paul declared loudly, covering Collin's statement, and Cassie snickered.

"Have you?" she giggled, leaning in towards Collin, who glanced guiltily at Paul once before grinning at her naughtily.

Paul ignored the smirk of a Lexus driver as he herded the Shaggin' Waggin' off the highway and towards the truck stop. It was one of those huge places that catered to semi-trucks, and so it was convenient to pull the RV into the larger bays where the semi's gassed up. Sims had turned her back to dig through her duffle, and it presented the perfect opportunity for Pyatno to observe his intended prey in her natural environment. His little beady eyes watched her closely, enough so that Brady growled and flicked a piece of half melted ice at him.

"Hey, Cass? What's with the freaky squirrel?" Brady wanted to know as Pyatno squeaked at the sudden and unexpected attack by He-Who-Guards-She-Who-Has-The-Foot-Of-Death. Realizing that he was deeply entrenched in enemy territory, Pyatno curled up inside the dubious protection of He-Who-Growls-And-Turns-Fluffy's mate's arms. His revenge strategy would have to be adjusted to accommodate the presence of these new threats.

"Pyatno's not freaky!" Cassie declared loyally, hugging him close and rubbing her imaginary Cass whiskers against the squirrel's real ones. "He's sweet. And it's not his fault if he's having a bit of a hard time. I did run him over with the Shaggin' Waggin' after all. Paul was so sweet, he went and rescued him from the woods for me. Can you imagine how horrible it would have been for him out there, all hurt and alone?" She gave Paul such a proud look that he felt just a twinge of guilt. Sims however sat up from her rummaging and grinned at Paul.

"Oh, _that's_ where that is," she said happily, digging into a pair of dirty jeans and pulling out a twenty dollar bill from the back pocket. "_Hello_, breakfast."

Paul coughed awkwardly, and then shot a look at the suddenly smirking Collin. Collin didn't have to know the details to know that Sims rarely had that kind of cash on her, and she had a habit of bribing people for food money. Brady knew this too, and then barked out a laugh.

"She got you, Paul? I knew she was the sneakiest of all of us," Brady grinned, and Collin tossed the map at Sims's head. She ducked easily, and tucked the twenty in her pocket.

"I'll buy you breakfast, Brady, my fluffy bunny attack got you broke," Sims offered fairly, and Brady perked up, but Paul shook his head.

"No, she won't. Collin, Brady, buy _her_ breakfast and do it away from us. I want to eat with Cass alone," Paul said shortly as he unbuckled his seatbelt. Cassie was already climbing over Collin and heading for the door. "Where're you going, Cass?"

"To pump the gas," Cassie said, waggling her card at him, and Paul snagged it out of her hand. Cassie looked at him in surprise and Paul grunted, replacing her debit card with his own, slightly worn one. He handed her the first one back, but frowned as he did so.

"You want something, baby, you ask me. I'll figure out how to pay for it, if you want it bad enough. Fuck them and their guilt money," he snapped, and Cassie looked at him in shock. Then she nodded, and after Paul told her the pin code, she slipped out the door. Sims took one look at Paul's thundercloud of a face and followed, although she could be seen leaning against the nose of the Winnebago, scrolling through her phone to see if she had somehow missed a call.

"Okay, what did we miss?" Collin asked softly, sharing a look with Brady. Both he and Brady were now standing up in the narrow living area of the Winnebago, both ducking a little, and Paul wondered how much of that was the low roof and how much was his own anger. He knew that Jake would have briefed both of them completely, so he didn't have to go into too much detail. However Paul had learned stuff this morning that they wouldn't know and he was still trying to process it.

"Cass's family is into some pretty major shit back in Russia, and someone tried to kill her sister and her sister's bodyguard last night," Paul said in a hard voice. "Cass had one too, that Roman guy, and he's probably dead. She's not telling me everything, and I know that, but basically she's had constant protection since we've met her and that protection's gone now. Collin, after this moment and until I tell you otherwise, if she's not with me, don't let her out of your sight. Ever. Brady, you know you're on Sims for the trip, but if she seems to be able to handle it, I want you on her permanently."

Brady shifted uncomfortably at that, but Paul just frowned. "Is there a problem?"

"No…it just kind of sucks," Brady muttered. "She's starting to look at me as a friend and it feels dishonest. And she knows that she gets along with me and that's why you chose me to be here, so she's going to start resenting me for it."

"She's the Alpha's _imprint_, Brady," Paul said, speaking very slowly and very clearly. "She's difficult to handle on her best days, and if she's amiable to you being around her, it's easier. Leah's too unpredictable, Seth's got too much to do, and Embry's…"

"Might be dead any day now?" Collin said softly, listening to Cassie put the gas nozzle into the vehicle and latch it so it stayed open. Sims had given up on her phone, and was looking across the parking lot, where the sounds of laughing were coming from.

"We don't know that," Paul said firmly, "And don't think about it. Sure as hell don't tell Sims that, she's at least talking today. She's had a pretty bad time of it lately, and if there's something that'll make her happy, that'll make her smile, then do it. Whatever Jack did to get her out of her funk, don't put her back in it."

"He watched porn with her," Collin said with a grin. "He told Jake, and when Jake asked Seth if that was a normal thing of hers, I accidentally heard."

Paul groaned and shook his head, Brady's eyes tracking Sims as she pushed off the front of the Winnebago and walked around to where Cassie was. "You can't keep listening in on the Alpha, Collin," Paul chastised him. "One of these days you're going to hear shit that's not for you to hear, and if you let it slip, they're gonna be pissed."

"I'm not stupid!" Collin protested. I haven't told anyone that they talk to each other like they're-"

He cut off as Cassie's voice whispered uncertainly to Sims. "Sims, I don't know why they're laughing at me," Cassie said softly, and Sims cursed, clicking the gas nozzle off.

"Hey baby, when that thing breaks down, _I_ can show you which hose to use," someone called suggestively, and Brady was already out the door, because his charge was already making a beeline for a car full of men who had been watching Cassie pump regular unleaded gas into the diesel RV.

"Hey assholes!" Sims snarled back. "Maybe one of you dicks could have _told_ her instead of _laughing_ at her!"

Knowing that Brady could break that car in half without much effort, Paul hurried to his imprint's side. She looked confused and worried. "What did I do wrong?" Cassie asked Paul, who cursed when he saw that she indeed had put almost forty dollars of unleaded gas into the Winnebago. "Paul?"

"You used the wrong gas, baby, don't worry about it," he said, blocking out her view of the car, and turning murderous eyes to the car. But Collin suddenly laughed and put a hand on his arm. Instead of stopping Sims, Brady was trailing behind her, and he had a gleam in his eyes that both wolves recognized. Brady wasn't going to stop her, although he was right there if she needed him.

Paul had said to make her happy if they could. Well, Sims was itching for a fight and Brady was going to let her.

The car full of guys hadn't noticed Brady yet, more focused on the broken armed girl storming right into the middle of them. The tallest one, a red haired man about Paul's age with a dirty smirk and adult acne, stepped up to meet her.

"Hey baby, couldn't wait, huh?" he said, with a smarmy smile. "You're not as hot as your friend but- " It was hose guy, and Sims never even paused before upper cutting him in the jaw so hard that it knocked him completely out in one punch. His friend caught him, jaw dropped and dumbfounded, and the other two looked like they didn't know whether to laugh, be pissed, or be scared. Sims looked at each of them in turn and then smiled meanly.

"Wanna see what it'll take to break my other arm, assholes?" she asked them with a tight grin, and as a cop across the parking lot started to take notice, Brady stepped up to Sims and placed himself directly behind her shoulder. They took one look at Brady and high tailed it, shoving their now semi-conscious friend in the backseat and speeding off.

"Why would you do that?" she asked him a touch petulantly. "I was trying to be supportive of Cassie, and you ruined it."

"I had meant maybe hugging her or talking to her," Brady joked, keeping an eye on the cop as Sims popped her knuckles satisfyingly and headed back to the Winnebago.

"I'm not very good at that," Sims shrugged. Cassie hated violence and looked a little horrified, but Paul and Collin were both grinning as Sims and Brady came back. "I've been known to paint nails?" she offered, and Brady chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe try that. You have fun?" he asked with a smirk, and Sims nodded.

"Enough," she said with a matching smirk as they returned to the group.

"You didn't have to do that, Sims," Cassie said a little sadly, and when Paul hugged her close, Cassie looked up at him. "She didn't have to do that."

"Yeah she did, because the rest of us wouldn't have been nearly as nice," Paul promised. Then he sighed and looked at the Shaggin' Waggin'. "We're going to be here awhile, guys. I have to drain the engine now."

Cassie looked at him, her pretty hazel eyes going even sadder and watering up, and he squeezed her to his side when she whispered, "I'm sorry, Paul. I didn't know. Before I left…"

Before she had left, Roman had filled the tank for her, even if he had refused to put the truck balls on. Paul rested his chin on the top of her head, and then kissed the tip of her nose. "Don't worry, Cass, I've done this before. My truck's diesel, and my aunt always forgets and fills it with gas, and she usually runs it until it seizes before I know. This won't be too bad, just give me and hour or so."

"Your truck?" she looked surprised and Paul grinned, swatting her butt lightly.

"Yup, _my_ truck. My aunt drives it because she needs it more than I do, but it's still mine. You thought I was carless, huh?" Cassie nodded and Paul chuckled. "See what happens when we assume?" he teased, kissing her ear. "There's lots of stuff about me you don't know, momma. Go get some food with them and I'll take care of things, okay?"

Sims was watching them with unreadable eyes, but Cassie suddenly smiled much more like her normal self and shook her head.

"Nope," she chirped. "I have just found out that my man holds a wealth of previously unknown knowledge. I want to stay with you, Paul. I want to learn how to drain an engine anyways." And as his imprint was sitting cross legged on the hood of the Shaggin' Waggin', holding her emotionally disturbed squirrel and waving happily at everyone who stared as the wolves pushed the vehicle to an unoccupied corner of the parking lot, Paul decided that humiliation was overrated.

Anything to make his girl smile.

Considering that the last time that Cassie had been helping under a car, it had ended up on top of her, Paul had left his imprint seated near the tire closest to him and safely away from the threat of being crushed.

Collin had brought them a bag of breakfast sandwiches, which Cassie was picking at with moderate interest. Paul had promised her real truck stop food later, but she hadn't minded. After all, she had been more interested in reading what was written inside the bathroom stalls and visiting the porn shop, and unfortunately for Cassie this was not one of those kinds of truck stops. So she had purchased and was wearing a five dollar t-shirt that read 'Lot Lizard' and was drinking a SoBe energy drink, the kind with a lizard logo, pleased she had coordinated so nicely. Paul had tried to explain to her what the term lot lizard actually meant, but short of being embarrassed, Cassie had just laughed and bought a matching ball cap.

He supposed that she could get away with it. After all, she had a two hundred and twenty pound wolf beneath the hood of the Puppybago, as Collin was fondly calling their ride, and if anyone had actually had the balls to call her a whore as the shirt implied, Paul would have killed them. And when she had bought him a ballcap that said "Lot Lizards Rock My Socks", he had sighed but had still put it on. Paul really needed Sims and Leah to make him a Whipped Whiney Jerkoffs shirt, but he might have officially gone so far past that now that a shirt couldn't cover it. He was driving a dog with balls, after all. There was no coming back from that.

"Hey, Paul?"

Paul was underneath the RV, finishing the draining of the engine, so his words were a little muffled. "Yeah?"

"Where's your family?"

"Right where you're sitting, Cass," he replied, grunting a little as he worked. Cassie ducked her head under the car and smiled at him. She had unwrapped a breakfast sandwich, Paul's fifth, and she had carefully torn it in half. He tipped his mouth her way and she reached over, dropping the sandwich half in his mouth, and after he swallowed, she dropped the second part. He nipped her fingertips playfully before going back to work.

"You think I'm family, Paul?" she asked, laying on her stomach on the asphalt and cocking her head to the side.

"You think you're not?" he asked in return, sparing her a glance. She had a little smile on her face and she was tugging the finger he had finger proposed on.

"Sometimes it's hard to tell with you exactly what you mean, Paul," she said, not accusingly but still honestly, and Paul grinned at that.

Paul shifted sideways and reached a greasy finger over to hook onto hers. "Ksanochka Ivanovna Fedorova, if I'm hard to understand, then you need to try having a conversation with yourself once in a while," he teased her gently with a smile. "But yeah, you're my family. My folks and sisters moved out of town a couple years ago, and I stayed with my aunt and uncle on the rez until I got my own place."

"You've never said my name before," Cassie mentioned, tugging back, and Paul closed his huge dirty hand over her small clean one.

Paul locked eyes with her, no longer smiling. "Because to me, you're my Cass. Everything about you is so big, your name, your words, your way of life. But when you stop all that, when you're just you, you're little. And little you is _my_ Cass. That's all I've ever needed."

"You need me, Paul?"

"Every damn day, baby," he told her gruffly, a little embarrassed at his words, and he scooted back to where he was working. Then he laughed because a very little Cass was doing exactly what he'd asked her not to. She was crawling under the RV and was wrapping her little arm around his waist, her head buried against his side.

"I need you too, Paul," she whispered.

And then with a naughty smirk, Cassie proceeded to show him exactly how much she needed him, and in how many ways. If he didn't know better, Paul might be tempted to think that his imprint was actually starting to like sex, if how she always reached to him for more was any indication of how she felt. Maybe it wasn't the sex, maybe it was just him, maybe she just wanted as much of him as she could possibly have, in any and every way she could have him. Paul had never been wanted like that, had never been loved like that. It was changing him, breaking who he had always been and molding him into someone who he had never known he could be. _Fuck_, he wanted her, needed her, loved her too.

Damn girl was lucky she didn't get another car dropped on her.

* * *

Embry couldn't breathe.

This had happened before, but each time the wolf fought back this hard, so hard that it was nearly killing them both, it made Jake want to start destroying things. Instead he watched, waited, wondered how many times his brother would have to go through this. How many times Emb _could_ go through this…It was the most painful thing that Embry had ever done, and Jake knew that this second time was even worse than the first. But they didn't know any other way. Embry had to learn control. He _had_ too.

Embry couldn't breathe, and until he could, the Alpha never took a breath.

* * *

Interestingly enough, Mike's, the truck stop diner, did not serve omelets the size of one's head. However they did serve pancakes the size of one's head.

It was with great enthusiasm the wolves tried to decide how many head sized pancakes would be the equivalent of a dozen normal sized pancakes. It required the obtaining of a pencil and some calculus scribbles so botched up that Sims wadded up Collin's napkin and suggested he eat it. Collin said he was tempted, if they didn't end up getting served soon. The place was busy, and their waitress had yet to arrive, although the pretty bouncy brunette had waved at them several times and made gestures assuring them that she was in fact planning on getting there as soon as humanly possible.

Sims was pretty sure that if she had been an ugly bouncy brunette, her eating companions wouldn't have been nearly as accepting of the wait time.

"Do you want to know why I love truck stops?" Collin asked, his eyes following the waitress as he talked, and Brady snickered, tearing little bits of napkin up and popping them in his mouth. He spat the ball of paper and hit Collin in the nose, but Collin seemed oblivious from his distraction.

"Not in the least. Brady, why do _you_ love truck stops?" Sims asked teasingly from her place next to Brady on the booth.

They had tried to get a table so to avoid the Sims squashed uncomfortably in the corner situation, but to no avail, so she had pleasantly informed Collin that she would rather be squashed in close proximity with the wolf that did not have an infestation of crabs. Brady had defended Collin, saying that Carlisle Cullen had assured them Collin was bug free, but Collin had smirked knowingly when Brady had sat down before Collin had a chance to make Sims sit next to him.

"I love them because I can order spaghetti before ten in the morning," Brady spoke up happily. "Do you know how hard it is to find a place where I can get spaghetti and pancakes in the same meal? It's fucking awesome."

"Normally I would mock you for that disgusting statement," Sims said, yawning and looking around, a little bored and more than a little squished. "But I'm getting vegetable soup and scrambled eggs, so I have no opinion."

"That's all you want?" Brady seemed a little disappointed at that. "We're eating on Paul's dime, and that's an occurrence rare enough to celebrate."

"After the taco gorge of 2010, I need to watch myself," Sims admitted, making a face. "I blame Jack, I think he's a bad influence on me. Should we get him something too? He's been wolf all morning."

"Jack doesn't eat as often as we do," Brady told her, leaning forward on his elbows. When she raised an eyebrow he lowered his voice to explain. "He eats as much, but he only eats maybe once a day, usually at night. Mostly at night."

"That's so…" Sims trailed off, and Brady smirked.

"Wolfish?" he supplied, and Sims shrugged.

"Kinda, yeah."

"Collin and I can't go nearly that long unless we have to," Brady told her, "But I've noticed that Paul and Jared don't eat as often as they used to. I think it's because they're older, and Jack's really old."

"Do you want to know why I love truck stops?" Collin repeated, sounded utterly distracted, and Sims and Brady shared a smirk.

"He in his own world?" she asked and Brady chuckled.

"Often."

"I love truck stops because they're the only place you can go when smelling like sweat or engine oil, order portions that are actually enough to feed people like us, and you still walk out having only spent a few bucks," Collin sighed happily, his smile widening as he saw that their waitress was finally headed their way.

"And the lonely waitresses right?" Brady teased, kicking Collin painfully under the table. Collin touched his nose absently, then glared at a smirking Sims as he quickly rubbed the spit wad off.

The waitress bounded up with a bright cheerful smile, leveling it at all of them. "Welcome to Mike's Diner! I'm not Mike, but I am Teffs," she happily pointed to the nametag on her chest. "And I'll be your server today. Sorry about the wait, and what can I get for all of you?"

Collin seemed to have taken significant interest in the waitress, because even though they all knew he knew what he wanted, Collin leaned over and gave her his most indecisive look. "We're new around here," Collin told her with a sexy smile. "Is there anything you could suggest?"

The waitress blushed a little under his stare and then grinned prettily. "I like the beef sticks," she chirped. Collin blinked, and then she went red, leaning over him and quickly pointing to the item on the menu. "See? The beef on a stick? It's kind of like normal beef and veggie kabobs, but here we usually have people who just want the beef."

Brady coughed to cover his laugh as Collin sidled a little closer to the edge of the booth. "Really? Are they good?" he asked seriously, and Teffs nodded emphatically.

"Oh _delicious_. The beef sticks are the only thing I ever order," she assured him. Collin chuckled and ordered exactly what he had planned on with an extra order of beef sticks, and as Teffs took everyone else's orders and bounced off to her next table, Collin sighed lustily.

"I want her," he decided. Sims raised an eyebrow and Brady grinned at her.

"By the end of the hour," Brady wagered and Sims laughed.

"No way. Not a chance."

Brady gave her a quick grin and nodded at Collin, who was still eyeing the waitress with interest. She realized it and kept blushing and eyeing him back even as she took orders. "He's never met a girl that could tell him no," Brady said in utter honesty. "I don't know what it is about him. Even in second grade, Collin always got the chicks."

"What about you?" Sims asked teasingly and Brady actually reddened a little. Collin glanced over, and then he shot Brady a teasing look.

"Brady actually has to _talk_ to the girls if he wants to get laid," Collin chuckled and Brady growled something at him in Quileute that made Collin laugh. Samantha patted Brady on his arm, giving him a friendly shoulder bump. Teffs came back with their drinks, and Collin didn't say anything this time. Instead he just grinned at her, friendly and relaxed and making his interest so incredibly clear that the poor girl nearly spilled their drinks in their laps. Brady let Collin catch her tray and steady it, his hands brushing hers, because Collin might be a good friend but Brady was too. Sims had faced the wall and was making gagging noises, and when the waitress left again, he shot her with a look.

"You're wrecking my game, Sims," Collin sighed a bit petulantly, to which she made crab claws and clicked them together twice before seeing the embarrassed look was still on Brady's face. Feeling bad for him, Sims decided to stand up for the guy, since it was pretty obvious that of the two of them, Collin was the only one that got much play.

"If it matters at all, you're much hotter than Collin, Brady," Sims said honestly, hooking a cube of ice out of her water. "I know girls tend to have horrible taste, so it's not your fault crabs here gets laid more. There are more important things than sex anyways."

"Yeah, like what?" Collin chuckled and Sims raised an eyebrow.

"Having more of a personality than an adolescent puppy with his dick hanging out," Sims said, and Brady snorted explosively. Instead of looking offended, Collin actually looked proud of Sims and held up his glass.

"We'll make Pack out of you yet, girl," he said with a smile, tipping the glass her way. Sims shook her head, but she did smirk and lift her glass.

"Naw, I'm still good. But thanks for letting me hit that guy and not go all uber protective over it. Sometimes kicking ass feel kind of good."

"Here here," Collin and Brady muttered in tandem and all three clinked their glasses together.

Some soup, three plates of spaghetti, nearly twenty pancakes, and some beefy goodness later, Collin slipped off to the bathroom while Sims and Brady headed back to the Winnebago. Paul had drained the engine, emptied the fuel pump and the fuel lines, and cleaned the injectors, so the Bago was good to go. Unfortunately so was Paul's imprint, and even without supernatural hearing, Sims could tell that it would be a bad idea to interrupt the Third and his girl as they christened Cassie's ride. So they wandered back inside to find Collin, but oddly enough there was no Collin. With nothing left to do, they shopped.

Sims bought a keychain of a tire iron in case her probably ex-boyfriend ever decided to call her again. Brady bought a sandwich. They wandered around, trying to kill time, and by the look of resignation on Brady's face, Sims had the feeling that in being Collin's best friend, he did that a lot. The two sat on the curb on the far side of the truck stop, watching the slightly rocking Shaggin' Waggin' out in parking lot earn its name, and listening to someone in one of the outside storage rooms call out Collin's. A little grossed out, Sims handed Brady the tiny tire iron to play with. He gave her the last bite of his sandwich.

It wasn't the start of a beautiful thing. But then again Samantha Carter would always be in love with Embry Call, and Brady had left his guitar at home.

* * *

They stayed in Missoula, Montana that night, even though Collin and Brady had argued very hard to keep on the road until they made the city of Butte.

Paul's inner thirteen year old had almost caved, but Cassie looked exhausted and Sims wasn't much better. Without much warning, the Alpha's imprint had fallen into a silence very similar to the one she had been in outside of Paul's cabin, and no matter how hard the pups tried to bring her out of it, silent she had remained. But she wasn't lethargic by any means. Almost as if she felt trapped in her own skin, she began pacing the small area in the living quarters, and when that didn't help, she began doing sit-ups on the RV floor. When she had reached three hundred, Paul had figured she would stop, ignoring their suggestions she just take it easy for a day. Collin stopped trying to keep count at a six hundred, and when she topped a thousand, obviously in pain but oblivious to any of the rest of them, they finally left her alone.

Sims did take a break, but then started over again, this time with side crunches, and Paul had to grit his teeth at the smell of sweat and pain and hurt that came from the girl in the back of the RV. The sweat and the pain he could handle, but her and Jake's non-relationship aside, that was his Alpha's imprint and she was hurting badly. Jake had to have known, but neither Jake nor Embry called. It kind of pissed Paul off. Yeah, he knew neither Jake or Sims wanted anything to do with this imprint, but at least up until now, when Sims was hurting, Jake had called. But this time he never did.

Eventually, but much longer than he ever would have expected, Sims collapsed exhausted on the floor, and then spent the rest of the trip staring out the window. Was she hungry? No. They were making a quick pit stop, did she want to get out and stretch her legs? No, but she did want out of this thing so she could go for a run. Would Paul let her? No. But Jack was still out there, and Paul had glued Brady to her ass, so she'd be perfectly safe. No, she'd pushed herself enough today, he wasn't having the Alpha's imprint passed out in the woods. She had a name, believe it or not, and it had nothing to do with the goddamn Alpha, who she didn't even _know_. She didn't have to like it, but she would do it. They could all go fuck themselves for all she cared. Good talk Sims.

And so the one armed push-ups began. They were even more ridiculous than the sit ups, because she was tired, even if she wouldn't admit it. She fell a couple times when she was off balance from hitting pot holes, and after jarring her broken arm badly, even though she completely refused to cry out, Brady had situated himself at her side so that if it happened again he could catch her. It didn't happen again, but Paul thought that was from sheer determination on her part, because it frustrated her and humiliated her to be babysat, as she claimed Brady was doing.

Shooting Paul a resentful look, Brady stayed where he was, but Sims kept her mouth shut, not taking her anger at Paul and life in general out on Brady, proving that the choice had been wise. Brady was too submissive and she was too dominant, it just went against her nature to treat him badly, and it made Paul think about Embry, and Emb's place in the Pack when Sims had met him. He had been ranked in the lower middle of the Pack, strong but certainly not dominant, when he and Sims had started dating. Embry had always been a pretty passive man, trying hard to get along, and Paul wondered how much of that had been part of Sims choice in him. Paul didn't know, and sometimes he had the hardest time understanding her.

The wolf wondered why it mattered to his human. The Alphas made their own decisions, and sometimes they didn't make sense. When Paul was able to see his paws without tripping on his nose, then maybe he wouldn't be so confused all the time.

Paul had rather resented that.

Cass had worn herself out in other ways, and she had curled up in her seat next to him, napping lightly as the miles passed by. After Sims had worked herself into a second and more thorough exhaustion, the younger imprint had seemed to come back to herself a little, looking not nearly as angry. A call from Seth helped. Seth missed his little bunny lop, and he had been hanging out with Chancy, but it just wasn't the same. Sims had told him to watch himself, or sweet little Seth would be de-virginized before he could blink, and Seth seemed to find that immensely funny.

Leah had stolen the phone away and launched into a very detailed account of how awesome she was for hauling Joe Carter's drunk and half naked ass out of his backyard and into his house during the storm last night, and what was all this shit about Jack and porn? If Sims was nailing Jack, then all bets were off. Leah had an Alpha to go find. Instead of upsetting Sims, the way Paul had feared, that had only made her laugh and tell Leah to go for it. The day she wanted Jake was the day Sims cut off her own arm.

No one but Cassie was tactless enough to mention that Sims practically had.

Missoula was only ten hours down the road of the sixteen hour trip, but it was well out of what Jake had described as the Yellowstone Pack's territory. Plus they had spent a couple extra hours at the truck stop, so even though it was only six at night, Paul was ready to call it quits. Tomorrow Paul and Jack would make the run into Yellowstone, and if things went well with the other Pack, he'd ask permission from the Yellowstone Pack to bring the others in to do some sightseeing. Paul thought that Cass might like that. But there was no way in hell he was bringing her and Sims in there without scouting it out first, no matter how much Sims was itching for a fight.

The Red Lion Inn was probably by far the worst hotel that Paul's imprint had ever stayed in, but she had actually been the one to point it out. It was the first place in town that had actually had a vacancy sign, the University of Montana was holding their graduation ceremonies that week, and they were actually pretty lucky to find a place to stay at all. Butte had almost become a possibility. Instead of being grossed out, Cass had merely smiled at Paul and slipped her hand into his, following him into the reception area. Everyone had been ready to get out at that point, and unthinking the other three had followed. Jack had appeared as well, once more dressed in current clothing, and slipped into the hotel after them, silent as always.

Paul had enough money for two rooms, but it never even occurred to him to get two, not when he had them all there for the exact purpose of having security on the girls. So he wasn't thinking when he walked up to the receptionist and said, "One room, two beds, if you have it."

The clerk looked at Paul, and then at Cassie and Sims, and then at the other three wolves. Sims had never stayed in a hotel before, so she was looking around curiously, not paying attention, but Cassie tipped her head to the side as the clerk's friendly smile turned into a bit of a smirk. He stared at Cassie in suggestive interest. "Two beds? _Really_?"

Paul saw this little shit staring at his imprint, realized what he was implying, and saw red. Paul hadn't gotten that angry that fast in a long time, and it could have gone very badly. But a hand rested down on his shoulder, it was Jack, and somehow the quiet wolf had slipped in between the fuming Pack and this clerk that was in risk of having his eyes ripped out. He didn't say anything, Jack never did, but whatever the clerk had seen in Jack's eyes had left the clerk scrambling for a room key. He was so frightened that the clerk didn't even remember to get any of their information before shoving the key card for room 112 into Jack's waiting hand. Suddenly looking deeply ashamed, Jack handed Paul the key and padded out of the waiting area.

"So, that was weird," Collin murmured, as Brady craned his neck to see where Jack had disappeared to. Collin turned back to the trembling clerk, his eyes narrowing as he jerked his chin at the clerk. "Hey asswipe. What he said."

"Jack didn't say anything, Collin," Brady sighed. "God, you're such a dumbass sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Sims murmured, but there was a little smile on her lips to soften her teasing.

"Paul?" Cassie asked, tugging on his sleeve. "Do they allow squirrels?"

Paul turned and looked at the clerk, growling. "Well? Do you? Or should I just tear your arms out of their sockets?"

"What does that have to do with squirrels?" Sims asked in confusion, but Collin was grinning. He always did like it when Paul got angry, as long as it wasn't at him. "Hey, I wasn't listening before, did I miss something?"

"Asshole here thinks we're all having group sex," Brady grunted, also glaring at the now violently trembling clerk. "He was staring at Cass like she was a piece of ass he wanted to tap."

"That was really nice of you, by the way," Cassie said with a smile, not at all insulted. "I'm in love with Paul though, so you'd have to work things out with him first. He's very big on not sharing."

"I'm sooo sorry, I didn't mean-" the clerk started, but Sims grabbed Paul by the shoulder and shoved past him, slamming her hand on the counter.

"Really?" she snarled, and then Collin barked out a laugh as she grabbed the clerk by the collar and jerked him halfway over the counter. "Okay, I know she's hot, but how about _my_ ass huh? Do you know how much I work out for this ass? What, _I'm_ not tap-able?"

The clerk was blubbering now, and Sims growled furiously at him. "What was that-oh, come on Collin!" she suddenly started snickering, dropping the clerk and stepping back. "I can't keep a straight face if you're going to just keep laughing like that."

"I think you made him piss himself, Sims," Brady grinned as the clerk just flat out fled into the back room. "You weren't actually mad, were you?"

"Naw, I know I'm not pretty," she said honestly. Then she grinned. "But I do have a nice butt, so he could have at least _tried_ to make me feel cheap too."

"He didn't make me feel cheap," Cassie insisted, absently tugging on her Lot Lizard shirt, and Paul groaned, realizing that he was losing control here.

"Crazy girl, puppies, Cass…everyone out the door," Paul said firmly, herding his mini Pack out the door and past the pool.

The room was a little rough, and Paul's sensitive nostrils brought him scents that he would have rather not smelled, but it was a room, and it was a place to put their backs to. The window was small, and with four of them, they could defend both the door and the window for days, plenty of time for the rest of the Pack to get there. Cassie plopped down on the bed furthest from the door, and she gave him a tired smile. Paul walked over to her and rested his hands on her shoulders, liking how Cass smelled so much like him now. Paul couldn't remember ever having sex four times in a twenty four hour span, but he loved that his scent was all over her. She was _his_.

"Hello, cable television," Collin said happily, plopping down on the bed next to Cass and grabbing the remote. Cassie was resting her cheek against Paul's stomach and he ran his fingers through her hair as he looked at his Pack. Sims was exploring the back of the room where the bathroom was, poking through everything with interest, and Paul chuckled at the girl's sniffing about. There was a tiny table with two thinly upholstered chairs beside the window, and Brady had draped himself in one of them, also looking eagerly at the television. It was hard to get cable television out on the rez, but it didn't pass Paul's notice that both pups were exactly where they should be, Collin near Cassie and Sims, and Brady guarding the door.

Someone had trained these two well. It was probably him and Jared.

"Cass, why don't you guys order some pizzas?" Paul suggested. "I need to go find Jack, I think he did something back there that upset him."

"You mean when he forgot his place and got in front of his Third?" Collin growled lightly, and Paul raised an eyebrow. Collin flushed but kept his disapproving look. "I get why he did it, you were going to kill that guy, but still. It wasn't his place."

"Jack's spent centuries Packless, Collin," Paul said softly. "I hope none of us ever find out what that's like. It's not his place to get in front of me, but neither is it your place to correct him. Just because you outrank him doesn't mean that you know better than him. Sometimes I think he knows better than all of us."

Collin flushed a little more at the rebuke, but nodded his understanding. Cassie was tugging Paul's sleeve again.

"Will you bring me my squirrel on your way back?" Cassie asked in a hopeful little voice, and he dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

"Of course, Cass. I might be a while, so save us some food, please," Paul murmured, and then he locked eyes with Sims. She raised an eyebrow and Paul addressed her very seriously. "We're in unfamiliar territory here, Sims. When it comes to protecting you and Cass, these two have orders to kill first and ask questions later, wolf or leech or even human. You may not be completely ready yet to be Pack, but that doesn't change who you are to us. They will kill for you, and they will die for you, too. Don't make them if you can do anything at all to help it."

Sims's eyes grew wide at that, but then she nodded, her face unreadable. Paul tipped Cassie's chin up with one of his fingers and dropped another kiss on her lips. "Be back soon, momma."

She gave him that beautiful smile of hers and Paul slipped out of the room, pausing and then smiling as he heard the door latch behind him. Good pups. Paul trotted out of the parking lot, passing the Winnebago and smirking at the annoyed squirrel bouncing on the shift stick, its little body much too light to knock the vehicle out of park. Paul had never been to Montana before, but the rolling mountainous landscape was a comfortable environment for him. Maybe because it gave him a lot of cover, and once he broke the edge of town, he stripped down and phased without worry, his clothes strapped to his back leg as he padded through the thickening woods in search of his Packmate.

Paul found Jack next to a stream, muzzled on his paws, staring at a rock. Since he was staring so hard at the rock, it occurred to Paul that maybe he ought to give their newest Packmate some more time to himself. Jack was pretty sure that after centuries alone, he had had enough time to himself to last, well, a lifetime. Paul padded up to Jack and pressed his muzzle behind the older wolf's ear, thinking that if Jack didn't want to be alone, than maybe he should stop staying away from his Pack. If any of them should understand how important Pack was, it would be the wolf who had been denied that for so long.

Jack rolled over and offered his belly and his throat to the Third in apology. He never should have interfered, it wasn't his place. Paul pressed his teeth to either side of Jack's neck, biting down only enough to be felt before pulling back and licking the older wolf's throat. Jack sighed and rolled over onto his side, and the young Third settled down next to the older wolf and lay his muzzle across his Packmate's shoulder.

It was hard for Jack to be Pack, when he was so used to being a lone wolf. He wanted to be Pack, but maybe he had forgotten how? Paul was pretty sure it wasn't something that could be forgotten, but if Jack felt it necessary, Paul could remind him. It wasn't necessary. Paul would remind him anyway.

Pack was the wind through their fur and the cool earth beneath their paws as they ran side by side. Pack was the warmth of a body curled around yours, and the sound of a heartbeat matching your own. Pack was a way of life, but was also living, and in being Pack they would never feel the lack of comfort or love that came with being with those who truly understood who you are and accepted you for that.

Jack's thoughts were hidden, as was his past. He was only half of a wolf. They would not accept him, not truly if they knew what his other half was like. He needed to be flawless, blameless, perfect. Mistakes were not acceptable, not for him. He did not want to lose another Pack, not because of mistakes borne from instincts he had never learned to control.

Paul didn't know. Paul was young, and as his wolf often reminded him, he did nothing but make mistakes. However he did know this. His Pack was better with part of a Jack than without one at all, and if one day they got a whole Jack, then they were a lucky Pack indeed.

The world was quiet for awhile, and then Jack was sorry. He would learn his place. The Third merely closed his eyes and was content. He was pretty sure his Packmate already had.

It was a couple hours later when Paul and Jake finally slipped back into the hotel complex, moving silently past the pool and knocking lightly on the door to their room. They had taken a moment to patrol the town briefly, and Missoula seemed blessedly leech and Pack free. They should be able to sleep safely tonight. The pups didn't know that yet, so the only noise inside the room was the soft sounds of breathing, indicating that both imprints were asleep, and there was a pause while the pups sniffed them out before Brady unlatched the door and let them both in. Paul had snagged Cassie's squirrel along the way, and knowing better than to fight with a predator so far his physical superior, an equally sleepy Pyatno stayed relaxed in the crook of Paul's arm.

There was a stack of pizza boxes next to the television, and Paul snagged a slice as Brady locked the door back up and resumed his position on the floor. Sims had told him earlier that it was stupid to sleep on the floor, she wouldn't bite, but Brady had firmly kept himself on the floor between the door and the bed, propped up on a pile of pillows Sims had tossed his way. Cassie was dead to the world, curled up with her head pillowed on Collin's chest, and as the young wolf sprawled across the bedding, he was stroking her hair soothingly as she slept. When Collin looked at Paul, he frowned, and Paul raised an eyebrow.

"She's been having nightmares," Collin said softly in Quileute and Paul nodded. He wasn't surprised, especially after last night, he would probably have a few too. Realizing he was exhausted, Paul still nodded to Collin to tell the other wolf to sleep. Brady and Jack were waiting for him to tell them who was on duty, and Paul decided that Brady looked more rested than Jack did. He needed Jack on his top game tomorrow, so if Brady wasn't too tired yet, he'd have them switch off in a couple hours. As if he understood completely without being told, Jack stripped off his shirt and climbed into bed next to Sims. She snapped awake in surprise.

"Embry?" she asked groggily, and Paul's heart went out to her. Jack made a shushing noise and without any reserve threw an arm around her waist, sticking his nose against her shoulder and immediately falling asleep. Well, to Sims's eye he fell asleep, when in actuality Jack was very much awake. But no matter how much she tried to push him away, Jack just lay there like a log, and Paul had to hide his grin as she gave up trying to push him away and sighed the sigh of one much aggrieved, relaxing back into the blankets.

"You're going to force me to like you guys whether I want to or not, aren't you Paul?" Sims asked softly, so not to wake Cassie. Paul appreciated it, because he too was moving carefully, taking his sleeping imprint off Collin's chest and depositing her onto his own. Collin scooted off to the far side of the bed and began dozing off immediately, having learned to take sleep as it came. Paul smiled at Sims briefly as he tucked Pyatno into Cassie's arms, and then wrapped them both up in his embrace. It was a strange little family, but it was his.

"Is it working yet?" Paul rumbled, and Sims sighed again. She did however pat Jack's head, and somehow ended up running her hand through his hair. She was quiet for a long time, but then Sims spoke to him in the darkness.

"I think that maybe, if I close my eyes, I'll open them again and it'll be Embry here," Sims whispered quietly. "But each time he's not. He's never let my side since I met him, and not having him here…there's this horrible gaping place in me where he's supposed to be. It's so stupid, but I feel so lost without him. So goddamn _alone_."

"He's still here, Sims," Paul promised her, pressing his nose against Cassie's hair and inhaling lightly. "That's the whole point of this, of Pack, it's that even when we're away from each other, we're still tied together. We still know we have each other. Embry has us, but you have us too. And you still have each other. When he figures all of this out, he'll come back."

She said nothing for a while, but Paul knew she was crying even if the tears rolling down her cheeks were silent. "I miss him, Paul," she finally whispered, her voice thick with longing. "I'm so scared he's going to use this whole imprint as a reason to walk away, and even though I understand, _I miss him so much_."

"We know, sweetheart, we know." Paul hadn't meant to use the name Embry always called her, but it was a title of affection that Embry had always used to soothe her and make her feel cared for, and it had just slipped out. Sims was silent a moment, but then she turned into Jack's body, pressing her face to his chest as small choking sobs stole their way from her throat. The ancient wolf's arms came around her, and he murmured softly against the top of her head, words so old that they sounded almost foreign to even Paul's ears. But the meaning was clear. Jack was singing her a lullaby, as if she was a distraught child in need of comfort.

Perhaps to him they all were just children. Brown eyes lifted to his own, and Paul nodded in approval before settling down around Cassie. He was glad Jack was here. Jake had made a good choice with this one.

Oh, _now_ Paul finally agrees with a decision I've made?

Jake needed to take care of his imprint, Paul thought with just a touch of anger, and Jake's presence softened in his mind. Didn't Paul understand? Jake _was_. Whatever, Paul wasn't Seth. He didn't want Jake in his head at the Alpha's whim, so he started humming the theme song to Star Trek in his mind.

Paul wasn't sure why that made Jake laugh nearly as hard as it did, or why next to him Collin was snickering softly.

* * *

"You have to do it again, Embry."

Jake was sitting next to his brother, Embry's head cradled in his lap. Embry had won again, but it had taken its toll. He was trembling badly, like an alcoholic a day without a drink, and Jake knew he was cold. Hell, they were never, _ever_ cold.

"Jake? I don't know if I can," Embry mumbled, his tongue thick from biting it. Jake closed his eyes and bowed his head.

"Embry," Jake whispered softly. "I can't let you live with this kind of power and no way of controlling it. But how exactly am I supposed to tell my imprint that I had to kill my own brother? The man she's in love with?"

Silence, then, "Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"If I get through this, I'm going to kick your ass for imprinting on my girlfriend."

The younger brother chuckled and held the elder tighter. "Just get through this, Emb, and I'm pretty sure she's going to kick both our asses for you. One more time, Emb, you can do this. I have faith in you." Silence, then Jake added, "Embry? She's _crying_ right now. She's crying because she thinks you left her. And I'm not going to fix that for her, because that's your place to do. She's miserable and she needs _you_."

Jake always knew the right things to say, even if he was a bastard for saying them.

This time Embry couldn't manage to walk back to the cliffs, he had to crawl. Dirt beneath his fingertips, he rolled over onto his back, head hanging off the edge and staring up at the moon above them. His girl liked the moon, liked being held beneath it, liked being held by him. And if Embry couldn't beat this, Jake would never let her near Embry again. Samantha was Jake's imprint after all.

_Fuck_ that. Samantha was _his_ girl first.

Neither Embry nor the wolf were willing to give her up, not even to the Alpha, not even to their brother, not even if they should. They would fight for her, as soon as they were done fighting themselves. After all, no one made Embry's girl cry, not even himself, and sometimes even wolves had to kick their own ass. He'd had a couple days practice now. Pain or not, he was starting to get the hang of it.

Embry smiled harshly and let his eyes slide pitch black.


	18. Chapter 16

A/N Here we go. I meant to have this up an hour ago, but I got picky about a scene. As always a big thanks to my reviewers: _pinkshirt, SugerSweetCutie, LightIsPrecious, hilja, cylobaby, Buffyk0604, HopefulHeartache, mcc3654, cymoria, Negrinha, EnglishVoice, KerryH, TeffieS, JacobLeah, momoirotan, SugaLumps, Miss Bear, MadToTheBone 1, Roonani, esoteric desideratum, garlauri, SARAH DB, Manna1, toalli, LucyPenny, ally leigh, TheLovelyImprinted, EaSofie, eskimogirl58, _and_ InsanelyxLOUD_. Also thanks to LIP, because she kicked my butt into gear this week, I was being very wishywashy about this chapter. lol. Hope you guys like it! ~mel

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Sixteen

The woman had been screaming for over a day now. She wouldn't be screaming much longer.

The ring of wolves were lounging about the warehouse that had become one of their Pack's homes, listening to the woman on the floor dying. The newest members of their Pack shifted and whined unhappily, keeping their gazes averted, but the older merely watched with bored eyes. It wasn't the first time their Alpha had put down a weak link in their Pack, it wouldn't be the last, and to be honest none of them had really liked her anyways. Their Alpha had left the knife in his woman's gut as she lay dying, because if she was careless enough to let it happen, then she didn't really belong with them in the first place. They probably could have called a doctor, hell a few of the newer wolves to the Pack had enough medical training to maybe have saved her life, but their Alpha was content to let her die. And he was even kind enough to ignore her curses as he sat by her in a chair, calmly eating a turkey and ham sandwich.

He had offered her a bite, but she was a little preoccupied with begging him for something to end the pain. It amused Chitakido that she actually seemed to feel that he owed her something. It also annoyed him, because he never had liked weakness.

Chitakido didn't make her careless. He didn't make her stupid. He had presented her with a perfectly easy job that would have made them a nice amount of money, and she had fucked it up so badly that they had been forced to kill the representatives that had been sent to kill them for the botched job. That was the kind of thing Chitakido tried to avoid, and it was the kind of thing that left stupid girls dead. If she was in pain, it was her own damn fault, and if she was dying at the interference of another wolf, and that wasn't Chitakido's fault either. He'd avenge her death when it was done, but she'd have to just fucking _die_ first, and the damn bitch was sure as hell taking her time at it. He wished she'd just get done with it already, but then again, fighting was like sex and sometimes the lead up and foreplay was the best part. Chitakido was a very patient man, and he could wait for his excuse, because it would happen eventually even if he would rather it happen now. For _this_ revenge he could wait.

Smiling, the tattooed Alpha continued munching on his sandwich. After all, it was so much more _fun_ if the fight was about a woman.

* * *

"_Dad!_"

Billy Black rarely heard that note of worry in his son's voice, and therefore was hauling himself out of bed and into his chair as fast as possible, listening to the door jamb rattle as Jacob kicked their front door open.

"Jake?" Billy called in sudden fear, wheeling out of his bedroom quickly. Jacob might be the Alpha, but he was still Billy's son, Billy's pride and joy, and that fear a parent feels for their children would never truly go away. Not for a man who had lost those in his life much too soon. "Jacob, what's wrong?" Billy turned the corner into the living room and hissed out a breath. His other son was in Jacob's arms, completely limp and ashen-faced, and Jacob was hauling his only brother to the couch.

"He stopped breathing again, Dad," Jacob said tiredly as he grabbed at the blanket draped on the back of the couch, wrapping it around Embry's trembling shoulders. "And he's freezing. I got him breathing again, but his temperature is down too far. I need you to get blankets, as many as you can find. Strip the beds if you have to."

Billy wheeled to do what his son had asked, pulling blankets out of a chest in the corner and casting looks of concern at his sons. Jacob was wrapping himself around Embry as completely as possible, trying to use his own body heat to raise Embry's. "Jacob, what's happening? It's almost eight-five degrees today, what did you _do_ to him up there?"

"Same thing I've been doing, Dad, I made him fight his wolf," Jacob said in an exhausted voice, hugging Embry tightly and rubbing his arms vigorously. Billy came back over with a pile of blankets on his lap nearly to his chin, and started tucking each one around Embry's still unconscious form.

"I know that," Billy growled, and then turned around, wheeling to the kitchen. "And it looks like he's losing. I'll start some soup, he's as pale as a ghost."

"No, Dad," Jacob said firmly. "You're wrong. I thing Embry might have finally won this thing, but I can't be sure until I talk to him. If not, then we need to get back up there and keep fighting. If you feed Emb's body, then you're feeding the wolf too. Emb has to finish this, he has to hold out longer than the wolf does, he has to make it realize he's stronger in the end. Or if he's not…" Jacob drifted off, looking miserable at the thought, and he hugged his brother tighter.

"You've been up there for three days," Billy said in a hard voice, his tribal chieftain voice. "Are you telling me that you haven't fed him in _three_ _days_, Jacob?"

"No water either," Jacob admitted, but he met Billy's eyes without flinching. "I'm not drawing this out for him. Jack may be right, there may never be a way of getting Emb back to who he was, but he's learning, Dad. Each time it was taking him less time to wrestle himself back, and this last few hours, he and the wolf have been on their last leg and I could see the wolf caving to him. I brought him here to warm him up, but there's no point in strengthening him only to make him start this all over. Seth and I can't keep holding him together, and if Embry can't win this, I'm going to have to kill him."

"You can't-" Billy started, but at the fierce expression on his son's face, he stopped.

"I can if I have too. I'm not letting Emb suffer, always wondering, always scared of himself," Jacob said in a voice as strong as steel. "We're warriors, Dad, and that's what Embry wants, that's what he asked of me and I agreed. He said it's better to go out fighting than to live a life broken."

As a proud man who was destined to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, Billy understood exactly what his sons were saying. That didn't mean he had to like it. He closed his eyes, and whispered, "What can I do?"

Jacob was quiet, nearly lost beneath the pile of blankets as he rearranged them, and then gave his father a piercing look.

"Acknowledge him," Jacob suggested, and at Billy's look of shock, Jacob sighed and rolled his eyes. "Mom's dead and she'll never know, so stop protecting her and hurting my brother."

"It's not that easy," Billy said softly, but Jacob snorted.

"It's _exactly_ that easy, and only your stupid pride is making it difficult," Jacob shot back, and Billy watched his son visibly try to restrain his temper. The Alpha in him was protective of his injured Packmate, and Billy might be Jacob's father, but it was a very stupid thing to go head to head with an Alpha who was protecting one of his own. The Alpha's only brother, no less.

Jacob exhaled, having finally regained his composure. "If it didn't work and we have to keep going, then I don't think he can take more than one more day of this," Jacob finally said. "Dad, you could be running out of time with him."

Billy said nothing, but his face went hard as stone. Finally he wheeled back a few feet, saying, "If you're to be a man, you need to learn to stay out of other men's business, Jacob. Let me know if there's anything I can _actually_ do." Billy started to wheel back towards the hall, but his son, his pride and joy, spoke up and stopped him.

"Dad?" The Alpha said coldly. "Man to man? You might be ashamed of him, but I'm more proud of Embry each and every day. He's my brother, and if he's your shame, you need to know that you just might be _ours_."

A lifetime of words, but there was nothing this old man could say to that. Silently Billy rolled his wheelchair back into his room and shut the door behind him.

* * *

It was a dangerous thing waking up to a wolf. It was a more dangerous thing when one was used to waking next to a far different wolf, and Sims had slept deeper than normal, leaving her groggy and confused. To his credit, when she rolled and reached for Embry, her leg hooking over a masculine hip and her cold fingers slipping into the waistband of his jeans, Jack didn't laugh at her or take advantage. He actually didn't do anything at all, instead opening one eye lazily to glance down at the girl cuddled against him, and then closed it again. From his place curled around Cassie, Paul smiled and ran a hand down his girl's side, before going back to dozing. Collin was awake now and Brady had opted to take a longer shift, mainly because their Alpha's imprint was finally starting to rely on them, and that meant something to them. Brady would stay awake longer if it meant that Jack was helping Sims feel better, if it meant proving that they would be there for her.

Sims had fallen asleep crying against Jack's chest, but afterwards she had slept relatively peacefully in his arms. It was still dark, the hotel was quiet, and the world was at rest. If Sims hadn't made a noise that sounded much too close to a soft moan and shifted against Jack's torso, it would have stayed that way. But she did, and from his place on the floor near the door and his friend, Collin snickered.

"Oh _no_, Sims, _you_ take the bed," Collin teased in a voice so quiet only the wolves could hear it. "I'll be the _gentleman_ and take the _floor_."

"Shuddup, Collin," Brady growled, and Paul smirked against Cassie's hair when Sims made another soft sound. Brady shot his Packmate a look of annoyance. "Jack, take advantage of that shit, and I'm gonna eat you."

"Only the puppy tucks its tail and growls in jealousy, wanting to gnaw on the Alpha's bone," Jack murmured contentedly in Quileute, "When the wolf can simply appreciate guarding it until the Alpha returns."

"Fuck you, man."

Paul grinned and held his imprint a little tighter. A slight curve had graced Jack's lips, and as Sims snuggled closer, he shifted her carefully so that she was no longer pressing herself against him in a suggestive manner. Even when out deeper than normal, she was a light sleeper, but Jack was very good at moving gently enough so that she ended up on her side facing Paul and Cassie with Jack still wrapped around her.

"Dude, Emb would kill you for sleeping with her like that," Collin murmured, a little in awe.

"He would not." Jack's words were firm, broached no argument, and Paul listened as Jack continued. "She's Pack, and she's Alpha, and it's her right to rest against any of us. She doesn't understand this yet, she's only actually accepted Embry as Pack in her mind, and therefore is struggling with his loss. She is like I was, alone and Packless. Once she allows another of us to be Pack to her, it will be easier for her to accept us all. Contact helps, although if she had simply mated with the Alpha, if only once, she wouldn't be having these problems."

"She's not mating with the Alpha," Sims muttered, and Paul chuckled. "She's also going to give Jack five seconds to get his pelvis off her ass, or something very old is going to be very broken."

Jack made a popping noise next to her ear and his lips curved into a smile that she couldn't see. "Our Alpha has many bones to choose from. Mine is not the worst."

"Eww! Paul!" Sims yelped, trying to flail herself away from an amused Jack. "Make the dirty old man stop!" But Paul didn't because he was too busy laughing. Jack had refused to relinquish Sims and had flipped them both over so that she was on top of him, albeit facing the ceiling and flopping about like a fish.

"You started it Sims," Collin told her jokingly. "You did stick your hands down his pants."

"_I did not_!" Sims said, offended. And then she stopped flailing and turned her head to look at Paul. "Did I?" Paul nodded and smirked and Sims sighed, then she craned her neck so she could see Jack. "Did I enjoy it?" she asked and Collin burst out laughing.

"Don't you mean, did _Jack_ enjoy it?"

"My ass is in his lap, Collin," Sims said, yawning. "I'm pretty sure that if Jack had enjoyed it, I would know by now."

"That, my friends, is called centuries of dick control," Collin seemed incredibly proud of Jack, who had closed his eyes again, holding Sims tightly as he seemed to fall asleep. Brady looked utterly annoyed, especially when Sims stopped fighting and kind of bounced a couple times.

"Maybe the clerk was right. Maybe we _should_ all have group sex," Sims said with a smirk, and Cassie's eyes fluttered open.

"M'in," Cassie mumbled before rolling in Paul's arms and cuddling closer.

Paul grinned and let his hand slide over her rump, squeezing fondly. "You know, the imprints these days seem to be a touch…freer than the imprints of the past," he noted, nuzzling Cassie's jaw briefly before glancing up. Collin was watching him with a look of two warring emotions, happiness and envy. Paul tipped his head to the side and Collin gave him a lazy smile.

"I want one," was all Collin said, and Paul nodded in understanding. Collin had a big heart, and like Cassie, he had a lot of love to give. Collin and Seth were the only two wolves that actually wanted to imprint, and for very similar reasons. Both needed an outlet for the amount of love they had, and if even growly grumpy Paul could be reduced to this level of contentment because of an imprint, Paul could only imagine if those two were actually given free rein to care about someone else.

Paul allowed himself another couple moments of breathing in his imprint's scent, then sighed. He had work to do, and it was best done sooner than later. If he and Jack didn't end up dead today, then he wanted to take Cassie sightseeing. That might not happen, though, because even as he thought it, Cassie shifted and then winced.

"Ow," she muttered, clamping her legs together the way she tended to do when the aching got bad. Paul murmured soothingly to her and half sat up, giving her more room. Her pretty face, slightly puffy from sleep, was frowning from pain.

"Which ones, Cass?" Paul asked, running a hand over her hair.

"The blue ones," she admitted. "Two please." Two? Paul frowned and then sniffed his imprint deeply. Yeah, she was hurting, although it had taken waking up for her to smell like it. Paul nodded and slipped out of bed, scratching his back between his shoulder blades as he found Cassie's makeup bag. Four bottles later, he finally found the blue ones, and he wandered back with a glass of tap water and the painkillers.

"Is she okay?" Sims asked, rolling over on top of Jack and resting her head on his chest. The ancient wolf seemed more than pleased to have her there, although it wasn't because there was a girl laid out over him. Jack had that blissful expression he sometimes got when wrapped up in Pack, the expression that matched his emotions when he was phased and with them. Jack wanted a Pack more than anything in the world, and if the Alpha's imprint wanted to use him as a couch, then by all means, a couch he was. Just as long as he could be there with them. Paul gave his Packmate a fond look, and even with his eyes closed, Jack's lips curved as if he knew that Paul's had done the same.

"Blue days tend to be bad days," Paul replied to Sims, handing Cassie the pills and waiting patiently with the glass of water until she took it to wash them down. "You guys will need to stay inside today anyways, at least until we get back, so that'll be better for her. Collin, these'll make Cass really groggy and not hungry so-"

"Papa wolf, if you think I'm going to do anything but take excellent care of momma imprint, then you're _crazy_," Collin replied impertinently, and Paul snapped his teeth at Collin playfully.

"If I have Paul puppies, than I really will be momma imprint," Cassie said with a pretty little smile even as she snuggled back down in her blankets. Paul chuckled and dropped a kiss on her brow. Her left foot was sticking out from under the blankets so he gave it a squeeze.

"Anytime you want them, momma," Paul promised before stretching and heading back towards the bathroom. The sink was outside of the rest of the bathroom, against the wall where everyone could see it, so his Pack got to enjoy listening to Paul brushing his teeth and spitting vigorously. Paul had always taken his dental care very seriously, and therefore was quite aggressive in cleaning his chompers. A couple minutes into it, Collin and Brady started imitating the blowing and scraping noises while Sims grinned.

"He sounds like a freight train in a rain storm," Sims snickered, and then she looked down. "Hey Jack, will you airplane me?"

"Your attempts at seduction are strange, Alpha, but if you insist," Jack stated calmly, but Sims only rolled her eyes and then laughed as Jack hefted her up and braced his bare feet on her abdomen. Since her arm was broken, she could only hold onto one of his hands to steady herself, but Jack was very careful and even when she lost her balance, he adjusted his feet to help her regain it. After a moment Sims grinned and let go of his hand, stretching out her arms.

"My mom used to do this for me when I was little," Sims said as she flew in place. "I was convinced I was going to be an astronaut, so I needed to learn how to fly. When her parents let her come back to the rez again, I want to teach Claire how to fly too."

"The eagle soars," Jack murmured placidly, "But the wind is rough. Sometimes it blows the eagle to the heavens." He bounced her up into the air while Sims yelped, and caught her again, making her laugh. Jack balanced her and grinned. "Sometimes it drops the eagle to the earth."

Jack bounced her again and Sims ended up back on his belly, laughing even harder even as she grunted at the impact.

"That was mean, Jack," she snickered, and the wolf flipped them over easily, braced above her momentarily before he pushed off the bed.

"If you want to fly again, ask the pup," Jack told Sims, smirking at Brady and reaching for the shirt that was on the floor next to the bed. "He will at least hop enough times to make it worth your while."

"Dude, me and you…" Brady growled and Collin laughed.

"You and him, what, Brade? Jack could kick _Seth's_ ass, what are _you_ going to do?" Collin teased his friend and Brady took out his annoyance by punching Collin a couple of times in the head. Understanding that yes, he was annoying, Collin allowed it for a few punches before he tried to take Brady to ground, ending up with both boys rolling around and punching each other.

"They're kicking my bed," Sims told the ceiling as the bed kept wobbling beneath her, but the ceiling wasn't particularly caring at the moment. It had several stains that wouldn't stop growing and therefore its own problems. They kicked the bed hard, and Sims's head got thumped painfully by the headboard as it bounced off the wall from the kick.

"Oww."

"_**Enough**_."

The word was in Quileute but the threat behind it was so clear that even Cassie jerked up in her blankets, wide eyed. Paul stopped brushing his teeth and glanced in the mirror, an eyebrow raised as Jack stood there snarling at the pups, teeth bared. Sims sat up in surprise, then laughed.

"Jack looks angry," she murmured. "Somebody better behave."

"Yeah, it better be _Jack_, who doesn't seem to get that we _outrank_ him," Collin shot back with his own snarl. Jack stayed still for a moment, his whole body clenched, and then at a soft word from Paul, the wolf closed his eyes and forced himself to relax. Collin opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, then he saw the expression on Paul's and snapped his mouth back closed. Brady however was sitting up, looking unhappy.

"Shit, Sims," Brady muttered, "Did we hurt you?"

"Nope," Sims said, giving him a little smile. "But I can lie and say you did if it scores me breakfast out of the deal."

"You're sneaky," Collin decided, deliberately ignoring Jack, who chose to walk out of the room. As soon as the ancient wolf was gone, Brady gave Collin an incredulous look.

"Are you insane, man?" Brady hissed. "Are you trying to get eaten?"

"We outrank him," Collin said with a stubborn set to his jaw, and Brady rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and if you piss him off, that doesn't mean shit," Brady reminded his friend, before addressing the dentally cleansed Third. "Paul, they have free breakfasts here. I was going to go get everyone some food before you leave, is that cool?"

"Do it fast, Brady," Paul rumbled. "And take Jack with you, I need to talk to Collin."

Collin immediately cringed at that, and Sims smiled before sticking her fingers in her ears and humming the death march. Cassie gave Collin a sympathetic little smile, which Collin returned even as he slunk over to Paul and leaned against the counter. Paul preferred to do his chiding in private so not to humiliate his Packmates, but Collin was getting pushy, and Paul was pretty sure what that was a precursor to. Jared had warned him about this, and while Paul didn't want to dress down Collin in front of the imprints, they couldn't leave. Sometimes a lack of privacy could be good, but not always. The best he could do was to speak in Quileute, using bigger phrases that he was pretty sure that Sims couldn't understand.

"I'm only going to say this to you once, Collin, and once is the only warning you will get," Paul growled, leveling Collin with a look that had the younger wolf cringing and dropping his shoulders. "If the wolf inside of you is half as strong as we think it is, you have the potential of climbing very high, very fast in this Pack. But if you do it through attacking more submissive Packmates than yourself, it won't matter if Jack could hurt you. _I_ will hurt you. And when I'm done, _Seth_ will hurt you, and when he's done, _Jake_ will show you _exactly_ what that feels like to be less dominant and be taken to ground by someone who doesn't have to. Jack may be the last Packmate we get, but he may not, and I didn't spend the last few years teaching you to be a bully. _Are we clear_?"

"Yes, sir," Collin replied softly, looking incredibly embarrassed. Then he frowned. "Paul, I don't understand. You bumped Sam-"

"Yeah, pup," Paul said in a no-nonsense voice. "I _bumped_ him. I didn't go head to head with him to show him I was more dominant, because we don't do that shit in this Pack. If you want to fight your way to the top, there are other Packs, find one of them. And if you're going to be dominant one day, you're going to have to know when to assert yourself and when to understand that the situation is a special case. And for right now, nearly everything Jack does is a special case, because even though he's trying to learn to be Pack again, it's really hard for him. You trying to assert yourself is not only cruel, it's dangerous. Jack could hurt you badly, and while that would suck for you, he might never get over it or forgive himself. Strength isn't having people not question you, Collin, strength is looking at those around you and knowing that their questions or feelings could strengthen your own. You and Brady were acting like idiots and got the Alpha's imprint's head smacked. He was being protective of her. You were in the wrong, not Jack."

Collin was quiet, his head hung in shame. Finally he whispered that he was sorry and started to slip away. Paul caught him by the shoulder first.

"Collin?" The young wolf looked up, and Paul squeezed his shoulder. "Collin, there's a lot we can all learn from each other. And as much as we could learn from Jack, I think he could learn a lot from us too. Hell, the guy's only friend is Rico, and that alone has to have fucked him up some. Don't make him fight us, and help remind him he's not alone anymore. He'll give you the respect you deserve if you treat him with the respect he deserves Help him find his place, don't let your own dominant nature tempt you to force him into it. We're not just wolves, we're human too."

"Yeah, papa wolf, I understand," Collin nodded, although he looked even more ashamed of himself, and Paul squeezed the younger wolf into a hug. Unembarrassed, Collin hugged him back, as hard as he could. Then Paul rolled his eyes and let go of the pup, turning to the imprints. Cassie was watching them, practically beaming, and Sims had changed her death march to a wedding march.

Paul shook his head at Sims, "You know, I think I finally figured it out. Jake imprinted on you because you're actually _more_ annoying than he is."

"I resent that comment," Sims said, but she rolled over on her side and stretched, yawning. "I might resemble it too. I'm not sure."

"You're in a better mood today," Collin mentioned and Sims shrugged.

"Jake stopped fucking with me," she said simply, and both wolves stared. Sims wadded her pillow up beneath her broken arm and scooted around so that she didn't have to crane her head to see them. "He's been messing with the imprint bond for days, trying to adjust it so that we're not constantly in each other's…heads isn't the right word. Emotions? And whatever he's been doing the last couple days has been hard on him, and it's been rebounding on me. But when he closes the bond down too much, everything I feel gets bottled up, like I'm going to explode, and I feel like I have to start clawing my way out. He's got it mostly shut down, but he's letting enough trickle through that it doesn't make me a zombie or a pipe bomb."

Paul looked at Cassie, who was starting to get a little sleepy-eyed, although she had tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Paul and I aren't like that, at least I don't think we are. Paul?" She looked a little worried and Paul gave her a reassuring look.

"I've never tried to play with the bond, Cass," he promised her, "Accept for that one time in the car."

"What were you doing in the car?" Collin asked with a sly grin and Paul snapped his teeth at the pup. He should have been paying better attention, because Cassie smiled happily and answered without reserve.

"Paul was finger proposing," she informed Collin cheerfully. "I finger accepted later. Do you want to come to our finger wedding? It's a double ceremony with me and Paul's wolf, because we're going to renew our vows, right Paul?"

"Cass, if you're trying to castrate me here, you're doing a really good job of it," Paul mumbled as Collin started snickering, and Paul's imprint winked at him playfully.

Collin grinned at Paul and elbowed him sideways, and Paul growled as he regained his balance. "You _finger_ proposed?" Collin chortled, and Paul growled again.

"Yeah, well, if you imprint, I'm going to mock you _incessantly_, pup," Paul promised, before turning his attention back to the broken armed girl. Sims had gotten bored with their conversation and was starting to balance the bedside literature on her nose. "Sims, why didn't you tell us?" Paul asked seriously.

"Tell you what?"

He looked at her as if she was a little dense, and spoke slower. "Why didn't you tell us that you were having problems with your imprint bond? Just because only one of us is imprinted in this group doesn't mean that we couldn't have helped or talked to Jake about it. You should tell us these sorts of things, we're your Pack."

"I was also cramping badly because of the morning after pill I had to take," Sims said drolly. "And going from having killer sex with Embry several times a day to suddenly nothing has kind of screwed with my sex drive, which is probably why I felt up Jack this morning. And oh, I think I have a pimple on my right shoulder, in case anyone's interested. Any other personal information I'm supposed to share, Pack-o-mine?"

Collin was very fast, so Sims didn't see him coming until he had already pounced on the bed, smirking as he sat partially on top of her, peering at her shoulder. "Nope, it's a bug bite," he said impertinently, and Sims lazily thumped him in the thigh.

"Off, kid," she yawned as she scratched at her cast. "Unlike Paul, you haven't brushed your teeth, and your nasty breath is much too close to my nasty breath at the moment." But Collin ignored her, instead pulling her hand away from her cast.

"Stop scratching."

"Stop being Collin."

"Ooh, burn."

"I'm hot like that."

Collin looked over at Paul and smiled. "I think Sims is starting to like us. The road trip has opened her eyes and shown her all the wonder that there is to being Pack."

"Thus far I have watched porn with Jack, been forced to endure Paul's idea of 'good music', and have gotten to listen to Collin molest some poor waitress. Oh, and that squirrel is staring at me from the top of the window shades. He's been doing it since three this morning, and if Cassie didn't love him so much, he'd be stuffed in the pool drain right now. So I would have to say yes, I am starting to like _Brady_," Sims told them with a smirk as the other two wolves walked back into the hotel room, arms full of the better half of the continental breakfast bar.

Jack glanced guiltily at Paul, looking ashamed of himself again, and Paul wondered how exactly Jake managed to spend weeks with Jack doing this to himself without wanting to shake him. Jack gave Paul a surprised look, then nodded shyly. Brady had heard that last part Sims had said and turned crimson, and Collin was a good enough friend not to burst out laughing. Instead he took some of the food from Jack's arms and offered the ancient wolf a hand.

"Sorry I was being a jerk," Collin said truthfully, if a bit sheepishly, and Jack blinked. Then he very carefully took Collin's hand and shook it as if it was one of the most important things that he had ever done. Collin flushed a little at that and Sims snickered.

"If Collin and Jack just imprinted on each other," she murmured, "My ass is outta here."

Paul shook his head at that and walked over to his imprint. She was abnormally quiet for her, but the look on her face was one of absolute relaxation. The drugs were starting to kick in, the blue ones always did pretty fast, that was why they were blue. Paul leaned over Cassie, and she turned her face to him, eyes batting closed as he kissed her lightly. Her arms came around his neck, and the light kiss became a little less than light. Finally he pulled away, ignoring Brady and Collin's smirks and Sims's small gagging noises.

"I'm not sure how long this is going to take, Cass," Paul told her, inhaling his imprint's scent deeply. "We can go more directly than the road, so it's an hour run for us," he added. Her scent, theirs mixed together, steadied him, and it was only then that Paul realized he was a little nervous about this. He wasn't sure why, maybe it was leaving Cassie after the party debacle, maybe it was facing another Pack with the knowledge that he was in charge here. It made Paul appreciate the amount of stress Seth had gone through while trying to hold the entire Pack together for the nine months that Jake had been gone.

Seth found it amusing that Paul would only now appreciate that. Jake was tired and was worried about Embry. Paul quite firmly wanted his Alpha and his Beta out of his human head. His head. _His_. The Jake and Seth bromance did not need a Paul tagalong, and he couldn't believe Sam didn't beat them both for dragging him into this too. Silence, then Seth's amusement. Sorry, Paul. Sam never was as strong as Paul was right then, and the Beta suggested that the Third get over it, because they were in his head to stay. Jake reminded Paul that he had utter faith in his Third, that he knew this was difficult, but that Jake needed to help Embry without the complication and distraction of Samantha there.

The wolf thought it was embarrassing that they had caused their Alpha to have to explain, and for the record, it was trying its best with its human, but Paul was annoyingly dense.

Collin burst out laughing as Paul dropped his face into Cassie's chest and whined piteously. "Paul?" Cassie asked in concern, hugging his head tightly. "What did your wolf say?"

But Paul didn't answer, instead he snatched up his imprint and lifted her out of the bed, carrying her braced against his chest to the bathroom. Cassie was surprised but made a little happy noise when he closed the door behind them and put her back to the wall, attacking her mouth mercilessly. Despite being sore, Cass's legs wrapped tightly around his waist, and Paul hefted her up higher, letting his hands slide under her Lot Lizard shirt. She hadn't worn a bra to bed, and he growled as his hands found warm bare flesh.

"Not that I mind, but what are you doing, Paul? I thought you had to go?" Cassie asked with an impish smile, as he pulled her shirt over her head and pressed his mouth to her breast. He had used to love bustier girls, and Cass was small, but she was Cass and was supposed to be small, and he never wanted a bigger breast anywhere near him again. She was his, all his, every part, and he wanted her like he had wanted no other.

"Making the wolf stop talking to Seth and Jake and focus on you instead," Paul mumbled unapologetically, tugging at her shorts. "Cass? I know we did this a lot yesterday, and I'm probably the reason why your legs are sore. And they could all hear, but can we…?"

Her answer was to haul his face up to her mouth and kiss him passionately. That was all the permission that Paul needed, and with a groan of pleasure (how had he ever _lived_ before being with this girl?), he dropped to his knees, still holding her braced up against the wall. Her shorts and panties hit the ground with minimal effort, after all, he could hold her up with one arm for hours without even thinking about it. And then she was all his, his hands on her ass, her legs over his shoulders, absolutely and only his. This part he took his time with, because he hadn't forgotten, would never forget that she liked soft, needed soft to enjoy their lovemaking. She didn't like sex, but she adored _him_, and Paul was trying to teach her that the two could be blended. She could enjoy sex with him because it was _him_, not just sex.

Cassie's head was tilted back and her eyes were closed as she moaned softly at his ministrations, and Paul paused, squeezing her thigh to get her attention. "Cass?" he whispered. "Cass? Look at me, baby. Watch us be together. I want you to know this is me and that things are different now."

"I know that, Paul," she promised, but as Cassie braced one hand on the wall above her head and twisted her fingers into his short hair, he could tell that she was having trouble doing as he had asked. He continued lapping lightly at her until she shifted more against him, making a soft whining noise, and Paul again pulled away.

"Look at me, Cass," he rumbled so softly it sounded close to a purr and she opened her eyes again. "Do you love me?" he asked her gently, and Cassie smiled at him, a big beautiful smile that he would never ever forget. He would never forget this moment, with her here.

"Of course I love you, Paul," she said, then a rosy blush touched her cheeks as she winked. "Although I might love you more if you were naked, too."

"Not yet, baby," he shook his head, holding her eyes. "Cass, do you trust me?" It could have been a loaded question, a precursor to him showing her sexual appetites he hadn't shown her before, and even though she nodded he still saw her flinch. Just once, but once was enough. Paul made a hushing noise in his throat, and then pressed a kiss to her thigh, even as he held her gaze. "One day, Cass, one day you'll trust me all the way. Until then, watch me. Watch me love on you, watch me make you happy."

Cassie's hand stayed gentle in her hair, but she finally whispered, "They…they made me watch, Paul. So now it's always easier if I don't, it helps me enjoy it more."

Paul stifled the growl in his throat and instead nodded against her leg, letting her settle down across his lap as he sat back on his heels. She looked disappointed, but he made a hushing noise in his throat as he soothed a hand through her hair. Then he smiled against her temple. "One day, momma, one day you're gonna love me so hard you won't ever be able to look away. I'll get you there, I promise."

"Will you love _me_ so I don't miss you as badly when you're gone?" Cassie countered in a soft voice, and he looked in her pretty hazel eyes. She needed him, he had known that for a while, and she wanted him too. But she was his mate, and she felt something else, something he felt as well, something that wrapped them together so tight that there was no going back. Hesitant or not, Cassie looked like she wanted to eat him alive, and Paul never had been the type to step back from a complicated situation.

"Don't ask," he breathed, guiding her hands to his chest, his sides, his stomach. "_Never_ ask. I'm yours, you don't have to ask for me." So she didn't, instead she unbuttoned his jeans and freed his arousal, letting him guide them together.

It was slow and easy, the way she liked it, and on the floor of a hotel bathroom in Missoula, Paul decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his existence with this girl. Paul hadn't known Cassie for more than a few months, but it was enough. He'd love her for now, and then after his mission he would come back and try to convince her to let him love her for the rest of ever. It was a scary thought, but Paul had a house and a job and if he could feed himself, then he could always eat less and feed her too. He couldn't give her the finer things in life, but the finer things had only hurt his girl. Paul trusted himself when he believed that as long as he loved her with everything he had, she would never care about the difference.

Because he was hers too. God, she felt good.

"Paul?" Cassie was whispering in his ear, her words small soft pants that said she was close. "Can one day be today?"

Paul growled low in his chest, but nodded, shifting back as her eyes swept down between them. She was blushing crimson, and Paul chuckled. He was tempted to tease her, but this was a moment for her, a moment for _them_, and he wasn't going to ruin that. The heat of her eyes on him made his arousal level skyrocket, and Paul tried very hard to be careful even as he increased the pace. Her nails digging into his skin was amazing, the expression in her eyes when she lifted them to lock onto his own was even more so. Paul had never had a girl finish when he did, so it was with pride that he heard and felt and fucking _smelled_ her find her release even as he found his own. It took him a long time to come down from the high, not realizing he was crushing her to him, his face buried in her neck as Paul inhaled her scent like an addict.

"Love you, Paul," Cassie whispered, and even though she said it in Russian, he understood.

"Love you too, Cass," he breathed in Quileute, knowing that she understood too. She smiled and together they stayed wrapped up in each other's arms, Paul not even realizing that he was trembling until she held him tighter and murmured soothingly to him. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, everything, but he never got the chance.

A bang on the door made Paul groan in annoyance.

"Well, now that _that's_ done," Sims called through door, "Do you think you guys could move it somewhere else? I hate to break up the post coitus cuddling, but I _really_ have to pee. I had to pee _before_ listening to you two go at it for the last hour, and that many squishy sounds just made it worse."

"I sound squishy?" Cassie asked, and then she giggled. "You _are_ fattening me up, Paul."

"Not nearly enough," Paul muttered, hiking them both up off the ground. "In a minute, Sims," Paul ground out, and there was a pause before an annoying second knock at the door.

"Thirty seconds, Paul," she countered, "Or this reluctant imprint is going to leave a puddle on the carpet out here, and you two get to clean it up. And there better not be a different puddle in there, or my ass is _walking_ home."

"Sounds good to me," Paul growled as he re-zipped his jeans and as she was finding her clothes again, Cassie grinned.

"Sims, you don't have to wait," Cassie said in a friendly voice, "The door's unlocked."

"I'm _not_ peeing with my nose in Paul's bare naked ass," Sims replied, this time smacking the door. "Come on guys, chop chop!" Paul sighed and left his jeans unbuttoned, grabbing Cassie's hand and hauling his shirt and panties wearing imprint out of the bathroom after him. Sims was standing by the sink, bobbing about as if uncomfortable. "_Finally_," she groaned, and with a roll of her eyes she pushed into the bathroom past Paul.

The hotel room had cleared as soon as the food had been devoured, because eating trumped privacy and discomfort any day of the week. Well, except for Jack and Pyatno. Jack was watching cartoons on silent, and Pyatno was surrounded by a pile of severed drapery cords, his little paws batting it around into the shape of a small noose. Paul wasn't sure which one of those things bothered him more, especially when only now did Jack turn the volume on and Pyatno was staring at him with suspicious eyes.

"Jack," Paul said in Quileute, so not to upset his imprint, who was currently tearing up little bagel bits and feeding them to Pyatno, happily chatting to the squirrel in her native tongue. "I'm not going to ask about the silent cartoons while I'm having sex in the next room. But you've been around for a long time. Does this squirrel seem a little…?"

"It plots to destroy our Pack, by means of capturing and slaying the Alpha's imprint," Jack murmured calmly. "Don't worry. I have been watching it."

"You're shitting me," Paul snorted, raising an eyebrow, and Jack gave him an amused look. Paul chuckled and shook his head. "You've spent way too much time with Rico, brother."

"He has been saying the same about my Pack," Jack noted, politely averting his eyes as the Cookie Monster attempted to teach him the letter 'C' be means of baked goods. "I've become more _wolfish_ of late."

"You're Pack," Paul smirked, pulling his shirt from yesterday over his head and stepping behind his imprint's chair, dropping a kiss on the crown of Cassie's head. "You're supposed to be a wolf." She tilted her head up to him, upside down from his point of view, and Paul smiled. He touched their noses briefly without thinking, then straightened. "Cass, it's an hour to Yellowstone for us, I'll call and let you know how it goes. I know the meds will have you pretty loopy soon, but pay attention to us, okay? You feel something bad coming through me, you run. Collin, you hear that?"

"Yeah, papa, loud and clear." The front door opened and Collin and Brady slipped back in, Paul's charge nodding in understanding. Sims had started brushing her teeth, but her eyes were watching Paul through the mirror.

"If we haven't contacted you in three hours," Paul told the pups in a very serious tone. "Get the girls in the RV and get them out of here. If something happens to us and the Pack feels it, you get the girls on your damn _backs_ and you get them out of here. Collin, you will not, no matter what, leave Cassie. Brady, you will not, no matter what, leave Samantha. No more than three feet between you and your imprint at all times, no switching, no bathroom breaks, no leaving the room for _any_ reason. No phone calls, don't answer the door, and no ordering takeout. Are we clear?"

"Isn't that a little overboard?" Sims asked around her toothbrush, raising an eyebrow. "It's not like we're in a warzone, we're in Montana, and Brady protected all of us by himself for days."

Their eyes flickered to her, and Paul nodded. "Yeah, and if any Pack of more than three wolves had chosen to attack that week, you would have seen what it's like to watch a Packmate die. My mission, my rules."

Sims shrugged and spit into the sink, "I was just curious, but it doesn't really matter. I never get a chance to watch cable TV, anyways, and Cass is the one who has to snuggle with crabs here, not me."

Collin rolled his eyes with a long suffering sigh and Brady winked at her, but neither one of them spoke. They knew the drill. Paul looked at the pups and both nodded, understanding, even if the look in their eyes said they didn't have to like it. Cass was deliberately not watching him, and he realized his orders must have worried her. He leaned down and put his chin on her little shoulder.

"Don't worry, momma," he said, giving her cheek a quick kiss. "It's just precautions. We'll be back soon." She gave him a smile, and Paul gave her a small hug before catching Jack's eye and slipping out the door. Both men paused until they heard the door latch behind them, and then they slipped off into the woods outside of town.

The land between Missoula and Yellowstone was mountainous, causing the main highway to twist its way between the two places. However as wolves it was easy enough to run a straight line, cutting the distance down dramatically. Jake wasn't phased, but Seth was, and Seth's presence in his mind was strong enough for Paul to be able to converse with his Beta along the run. Jake was completely distracted by Embry, so Seth had taken back running the Pack for the moment. Embry was having a hard time of it, but if his body could hold out longer than his wolf's spirit self could, Jake felt that Embry could force control and the wolf be unable to take control of Embry anymore. It was drastic, and it seemed like Embry was blending between himself and his wolf in a strange way, but it was working.

Was Paul ready for this?

Shouldn't they have bothered to ask Paul that before sending Paul to do this?

Seth was confident in Paul, and he agreed with Jake. Having Sims out of town for a few days was helping, because a couple times the wolf had taken over, and without her in close proximity, the wolf didn't pose a risk to her. Not that Seth was sure the wolf would hurt Sims, but this way Jake didn't have to make that decision to hurt Embry because Emb's wolf was going for Sims. It was dangerous, yes, but better this way. Was Cassie okay? That party was kind of fucked up.

Paul didn't want to talk about that right now. Cass had a lot of boogeymen in her closet, and Paul had made a decision that soon those boogeymen wouldn't be in _anyone's_ closet, regardless of what it did to her family, but for now he had to concentrate. Jake was sure that this Alpha wasn't any stronger than Paul?

This Alpha wasn't strong enough to take Paul the way that Saskatchewan had, if that was what Paul meant. But not necessarily weaker. The older wolves were all powerful, however Paul had Jack at his back, and considering that Yellowstone was supposed to be four wolves strong, that made it an even fight. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Paul would have been fine with this if he hadn't have been forced to take the imprints, that was bothering him greatly. Seth was quiet, and then asked if it bothered Paul enough that they should pressure Jake to rescind the order? Jake was looking to his own imprint's welfare, even if she might not see it that way, but not necessarily Cassie's welfare.

Both Jake and Seth felt that sending several lower ranked but very strong wolves with an imprint made the approach much less threatening to the other Pack. Jake's Alpha status made the other Packs nervous or territorial, and coming in on equal ground was a show of confidence in Jake's own Pack, and a show of friendship too. But Jake had made mistakes before, they all had, and he listened to Paul and Seth more than Paul realized. If Paul's gut said this was wrong, then Seth would go get Jake to talk about this.

Paul considered it, was tempted, but then decided no. They were already here, and he'd rather have Cass close then send the pups cross country with the girls alone unless absolutely necessary. And he hadn't thought about it that way. Jack was a strong enough wolf that he put everyone on edge, but two imprints in the vicinity, especially if they requested permission to take the girls sightseeing, made this trip less of an intimidation. They would continue on. Seth agreed and wished Paul good luck a bit wistfully, after all Seth never got to leave the rez because Jake wanted him there. The Beta faded to a whisper in the back of Paul's mind, and it occurred to Paul that he hadn't heard Jack's thoughts on the matter.

Jack had no thoughts on the matter. It wasn't his place to question, he would do as his Alpha and the Third commanded. In that case, Paul commanded his wolf to turn on the volume to his cartoons next time Paul was having sex. That was just weird, Jack.

The ancient wolf failed to see the problem. He had wished to see the show, and had not wished to disturb his Third. Both Jack, the Third, and the Third's imprint were all very content at the same time. In fact, Jack was quite sure of that. Paul thought that the skies were very blue here, and the grass very green, and gee, let's not think about this anymore. So as he was ordered, Jack had no thoughts on that matter as well, and the small brindle wolf stretched out his body and matched his Third stride for stride. Jack had a place and his place was here, at his Third's side, and he was determined to do well. He would make this Pack proud of him, he _would_.

As his shoulder playfully bumped Jack's, the Third decided that was something the ancient wolf was never going to have to worry about again. He would have to move on to worry about other things. Jack could do that. His next worry was that he had accidentally learned the letter 'C'. Perhaps the Third had some advice to him on letter de-learning?

Weird, Jack, Paul decided. So very weird.

* * *

"Do you know what I like about scalding hot pizza?"

Jared looked up from his magazine and glanced at the Beta sprawled out at the bar counter in front of him. It was a good day today. Jake had finally taken Embry down off the cliffs, and even if their Packmate wasn't better, he wasn't dead and he wasn't in agony anymore, and that made it a good day indeed. Seth was celebrating by seeing how much of his money he could spend in one sitting on cheesy covered circular dough, and thus far he was into his third extra-large pie without showing any signs of slowing.

Jared wanted to know what Seth liked about hot pizza, but Jared was pretending to be Paul today and covering Paul's shift, and Paul wouldn't care. So Jared raised an eyebrow in a perfect Paul imitation, causing Seth to grin and nod in appreciation.

"Well done, man," Seth acknowledged, before stuffing a whole slice in his mouth and mumbling, "Well done."

"I've been practicing," Jared admitted, flipping a page and sighing lustily at the '69 Malibu presented therein. "Oh baby, one day. One day you and I will be together…"

Seth leaned over the counter and Jared tipped his magazine so that the Beta could see. The sound Seth made was less lusty, but he did pause a moment mid-chew.

"You know," Seth decided, "If I don't imprint on a chick, I may try to convince myself to imprint on a mint conditioned mid to late sixties muscle car. Think of what a wonderful couple we could be? I could hold her, and love her, and rub wax all over her front end…"

Jared snickered and turned the page, "Seth, I can't remember the last time you were anywhere _close_ to the front end of anything that could be rubbed."

"Not true! So not true," Seth declared a little defensively. "Okay, so maybe I've been a little busy lately, but there were front end opportunities. It's not my fault I had to take the responsible route this past year, but now that Jake's back, I'm totally front end ready."

Another raised eyebrow as Seth's words carried a little too far, causing some giggling from the far end of the pizza parlor. Jared was getting good at imitating Paul, he had even borrowed the Paul nametag from Cassie, and if Jared kept getting these facial expressions right, Paul would have no choice but to be proud.

"That sounded bad, huh?" Seth murmured, completely unembarrassed as he crammed another slice into his mouth. "Did I just start a new Jacob Black/Seth Clearwater sexual relationship rumor?"

"Probably."

"Good to know."

Seth chewed contentedly for a moment and then grinned. "I met someone," he told Jared, who glanced up in surprise. It wasn't often that they got to hear anything new without the Pack mind being involved. Jared grinned, his curiosity having been peaked, and he tossed the magazine to the side and turned his eyes to Seth's pizza, not willing to grab a slice without permission. Seth shifted his shoulders, a tiny motion but it opened up his body stance and invited the older wolf to join in his meal. Jared smiled in appreciation and took a smaller slice, waiting for Seth to continue. When he didn't, Jared, chewed on a pepperoni and this new information.

"You met someone, but not an imprint," Jared talked out loud, then he grimaced. "Please don't tell me it's _her_."

Her was Brady's cousin, Callie Jennings, and all five foot ten inches of her had just strutted through the door. Seth sniffed and then glanced over his shoulder, eyes following the soon to be junior as she moved across the floor. Callie was a looker, Seth had to give her that, legs that went on forever and a front end that really should be waxed every so often to keep it bright and shiny. Too bad Callie was mean as hell and the biggest troublemaker this reservation had raised since her uncle and Sims's daddy had come into their own. But she looked good, and she smelled good, and both wolves watched her walk right up to them and take one of Seth's slices of pizza.

Jared was tempted to growl at her, but for some reason his mouth clamped shut on him. Seth seemed amused and leaned back, giving Callie an interested look as she sat down on the stool next to him.

"That's two dollars you owe me now," Seth told her with a lazy grin. "How's it going, Cals?"

"Don't call me that, Clearwater," Callie told him, ignoring the Beta and eyeing Jared with a calculating expression. "Hey Jared."

"Callie," Jared murmured politely, although he gave Seth and annoyed look. Callie was still sixteen, Collin and Brady's ages, and even if Jared hadn't been with Kim, she was way too young for him. Plus she treated people badly, and she used, and the rez had enough problems without a girl like her. Her year in juvie had been good for everyone, although if it had been good for Brady's cousin had yet to be seen.

For the record Brady couldn't stand her.

"You still with Connweller?" Callie asked curiously as she pulled the cheese from her pizza and dropped it on a napkin, and it occurred to Seth that if Callie had her way, Jared would probably be that slice and Kim that cheese. Jared nodded, unable to not smile a little as he thought about his imprint, and Callie snorted. "That's a shame."

Jared did growl this time, and Seth sighed, wishing Jared had been smart enough not to rise to the bait, because Callie was leaning in and smirking. "Come on, Qahla, she's pug faced, looks like she ran into a door or some shit. Look around, you could do better."

"Funny, when I look around, all I see is the town crackwhore," Jared snapped back instantly. Maybe Jared shouldn't have said it or said it nearly so loudly, but she was insulting Kim and if a guy had said that, Jared would made sure the asshole was run _through_ a door. Still, he was better than humiliating sixteen year old girls, and even as he was stewing angrily, Seth could tell Jared was ashamed of himself.

Seth didn't like the flush of humiliation that graced Callie's cheeks, a little more angry about it than he really should have been, but he had to admit Callie had it coming. But Callie never had been the type to allow anyone to treat her the way she treated them, so she nodded, finished her pizza, and then picked up Seth's pitcher of soda and upended it on top of the remains of Seth's pie.

"Whoops," Callie smiled at Jared as soda went everywhere, and then she winked at him and sauntered back out. Jared looked at her like he wanted to start throwing things at her, but Seth just sighed sadly.

"Do you want to know what I _liked_ about hot pizza, Jared?" Seth asked mournfully, lifting a soggy slice. "That it tasted so _good_ with ice cold soda." The Beta stuffed the soda drenched slice in his mouth and swallowed, looking even sadder. "It's just not the same."

Jared groaned and started piling rags onto the mess, including in the middle of Seth's pizza. "Don't eat that man," Jared said, shaking his head in annoyance. "I'll get you a new one. I knew better than to even talk to that cu-"

"Lan-_guage_," Seth sing-songed, sounding so much like Cassie that Jared blinked and then laughed.

"That was freaky, man," Jared smirked. "Maybe the rumor mill is right about you two after all."

"Bullshit, I'm not Jake's bitch, no matter how many compromising positions we seem to get stuck in. I'm _all_ about the ladies," Seth declared proudly, helping sop up the mess with the towels. "And I even have a date with one."

"Seriously? You have a date?"

"Yep," Seth declared proudly. "It's more of an interview of sorts, but an arranged meeting is still a date in my book. Chance and I are meeting at First Beach in a few, because we're taking a friendship compatibility test together. If we do well, we're going to be best dude/chick friends forever. If we do badly we're going to be sworn enemies and attack each other regularly with fruit. Either way, I think I'm going to buy her an ice cream. I'm very nice like that."

"The orange haired girl?" Jared asked in confusion. "New on the rez, kind of odd looking? Really, Seth? Not to sound like Callie, but you could do way better."

Seth growled softly, but it was enough to cause Jared to cringe and duck his head in apology.

"I like her, and that's all that matters. Chancy gets a lot of shit at school, Jare," Seth said in a firm voice, gathering the soggy towels in a pile. "No one in the Pack gives her shit or watches her take it from someone else. _Got it_?"

"Yes, sir," Jared said obediently, and Seth realized he'd put more strength in that than he'd intended. Seth gave his Packmate a smile.

"She's got nice parts, Jared. And she's just a friend," Seth said, shrugging. "I want a friend, a normal one, because it helps me to feel more normal. Don't worry, I'm not head over heels or anything, no Embry/Sims repeats here," Seth promised, and then he chuckled. "I just want someone who doesn't smell like fur and ass to hang out with every once in a while."

Jared nodded, "Sorry man," he said softly, as if embarrassed he had caused his Beta to chastise him, and Seth patted Jared's arm reassuringly.

"No worries, brother," Seth declared cheerfully. He pointed at the pile of sopping wet towels. "Hey, can I borrow these?" The older wolf was already nodding before he remembered to ask why. Seth grinned devilishly. "Because Cals talked shit about one of my imprints and that just doesn't happen here."

Jared's grin spread wide across his face, and he disappeared into the back, coming out with an empty five gallon bucket that used to hold pizza sauce and had yet to be rinsed out. The pile of towels fit in there very nicely. Seth beamed and headed for the door, and Jared had already turned back to his magazine when he called out, "Hey Seth?"

"Yeah?"

"Make sure to get the front end really well," Jared said with a smirk. "She's a bitch, but let's be honest. It's been awhile." Seth winked playfully at Jared and then practically leapt out the door.

That day was an interesting day. It was the day where Callie Jennings and her white t-shirt learned that Seth Clearwater's pizza was not to be stolen or destroyed, where Kim's little sister Nikki earned an enemy for life for laughing in Callie's face when it happened, and Chancy Hoblin wondered why Seth looked so damn pleased with himself and had an empty bucket of completely wrung dry towels in it when he showed up. The test decided that Seth and Chancy were to be best friends, but Seth was pretty sure that there could still be attacking with fruit in between skipping off hand in hand through fields of green and beautiful sunsets.

Oh, and that was the day when Chitakido's woman finally died, still screaming from the knife in her belly. It was unfortunate timing.

* * *

Embry woke up feeling changed. He also woke up feeling like shit.

The proof of this was in the fact that he rolled over and immediately retched, although there was nothing to come up and all he did was dry heave onto someone's worn shag carpeted floor. There was a hand steadying his shoulder, one that had never steadied him in all of his young life. It was Embry's father.

That didn't necessarily make him feel any better.

"S'rry," Embry mumbled as the heaving slowed and stopped, leaving him weak and shaky on his birth father's couch. He was covered with blankets, almost as if he was a little kid trying to make a blanket fortress, and he couldn't remember the last time he had actually used a blanket for warmth as opposed to just a pleasant weight draped over his chest. Sims got cold at night, so he kept extra blankets on his bed these days, but not nearly this many. Feeling a little stupid, Embry tried to push some of them off.

"Easy, son," Billy Black said quietly, pressing Embry back to the couch with a frown, and Embry allowed it to happen. "You've had a rough few days, and you're weak. Stay down."

"M'thirsty," he managed to get out around his parched tongue, and at his words, the familiar warmth of his Alpha swept over him. Jake had been dozing in his room, but the sounds of Embry stirring had woken him. Billy started to reach for a glass of water he had poured earlier for that exact purpose, but Jake shook his head and walked over, crouching down next to the couch with his elbows on his knees.

"How you doing, Emb?" Jake asked easily, and Embry grimaced.

"I feel like I tangled with the whole Cullen coven at the same time and they won," he muttered, forcing the words through his damaged vocal chords. They felt as if he had spent hours screaming, and as the memories of the last couple days came washing over him, Embry realized that he probably had. His head came up and he met Jake's eyes. "Did it work?"

Jake gave Embry a lazy grin and tilted his head to the side. "You tell me, Emb. I can only go by what I feel and what I'm seeing." Embry looked askance at that and Jake hooked a silver picture frame off the end table next to them, turning it over and offering it to Embry. "See for yourself, brother."

The lamplight caught the picture frame as Embry tilted it in his hands and saw what Jake and Billy saw. His eyes had changed, permanently it seemed, a mottled color of chocolates and blacks, and his face looked harder than he ever remembered it being. Closing his eyes, Embry realized that the wolf wasn't hiding in the back of his mind anymore, it was right in the forefront with him. They were blended, if not the normal way, and even now Embry could feel the wolf echoing his thoughts but changing them into its own. The wolf wasn't happy with this, it felt unnatural, and there was no balance to this. But Embry was stronger than the wolf had given him credit for, and the fight for dominance had been killing them both. The wolf preferred to live, even if forced unwillingly to be submissive to someone it felt too weak for what they could be.

Embry wanted the wolf to stop talking. Grudgingly the wolf did as asked, albeit not willingly and not happily.

"I've got him, Jake," Embry whispered softly. "He doesn't like it, but I've got control. And you aren't holding me at all, are you?" Jake shook his head. Embry sighed and dropped the picture frame on his bare and beaten chest. "Is it enough? Is it enough to last?"

"I don't know, Emb," Jake said honestly. "Other Alphas always culled their wolves who lost their balance within themselves, and that was all I was able to get from Jack when I pressed him. We're kind of winging this, man. Even if this doesn't work for long, as long as it works for now, than that's the best we can do."

Embry's face hardened, and he closed his eyes. "That's not good enough, that's not fool proof."

Jake was quiet for a moment and then put his hand on Embry's shoulder, bringing new eyes back to the Alpha. "Emb? She's not going to get fool proof. But she's not stupid, and if that's what she still wants, then I'm not going to stand in her way."

"Am I missing something, boys?" Billy asked gruffly, and Embry's mouth closed, unwilling to share his Alpha's secrets, not even with their father. Jake frowned, but then he sighed and rubbed his face tiredly.

"Yeah, I might as well tell the council, huh? I imprinted."

Billy's eyes grew wide, then a sudden smile split his face. "That's wonderful, son! Who is she?"

"Samantha Carter."

Billy's smile fell, and then he went very still, looking back and forth between his sons. "You still with her, Embry?" Billy finally asked in a careful voice, and Embry exhaled.

"Last time I checked, although I think she might have misunderstood our last conversation," Embry admitted. The wolf was asserting itself enough for the next sentence to come out unwillingly from his mouth. "We won't walk away from her, not even for the Alpha, not if she still wants us."

"You're talking plural, Emb," Jake reminded him and Embry nodded. He'd have to work on that. "And Dad, to be honest, I have no idea why I imprinted on her. I have never met a girl that wanted _less_ to do with me. She took a damn tire iron to her arm to back the Pack off of Embry, just because she knew it was her best chance at hurting me."

"Jacob, her mother-" Billy started only to get stopped.

"Leave her mother out of this," Embry cut in sharply. "Sims isn't her mother, and it's time the reservation realized it. And no offense, sir, but this conversation is between me and my Alpha."

"Actually it's between Embry and his little _brother_, Dad," Jake said pointedly. "But you can let the Council know that Samantha Carter's my imprint, and as such has protection from me." He glanced at Embry, and then smiled a little. "Not that she needs it. She's got Emb so smitten that I'm pretty unnecessary."

Billy gave Jake a searching look, then gave Embry the same. "You boys can't be serious. An imprint is a soul mate, and she is _Jacob's_ soul mate. Your loyalty is commendable, Jacob, but Embry, you know better than this. That you would even consider-"

"Don't put that on him," Jake growled protectively. "And I don't know much about this girl, but what I do know is that she's completely in love with Embry. I'm not taking that shit from him just because a Council tells me that's what I should do. You guys fucked Sam up enough, I'm not going down that same road. If Samantha wants Embry, and he wants her, and they both understand the risks, I'm not standing between them."

"Then both my sons are fools," Billy said in a hard voice, and he shoved the glass of water at Embry, looking completely distraught. Embry didn't know what to do, he had never been acknowledged before, and if Billy was angry, he wasn't leaving. Jake smirked and patted his father on the knee.

"Don't feel too bad," Jake joked. "I'm sure you taught me better, Dad, but us Alpha types are just so bullheaded we can't help ourselves." He yawned and stretched as Embry cautiously drank his water, trying to understand his place in this conversation. "Plus to be honest, Emb's girl might have a nice ass, but my _imprint_ is bat fucking _crazy_."

Embry growled at that and Jake laughed, snagging his brother's now empty glass. "Hey Emb, you can't get mad at me for that, look at the information I'm working with here."

Jake came to his feet easily and cracked his neck, patting his still upset looking father on the shoulder as he went into the kitchen and poured Embry another glass. He came back with two loaves of bread and a bulk sized jar of peanut butter and started making sandwiches. Billy declined after the first but Jake kept handing one after another to Embry, and the half-starved wolf didn't hesitate in stuffing them into his mouth. Three hours of not eating was hard on the younger Pack members and Embry had gone over three days.

Peanut butter sandwiches were a staple in the Pack's diet, the protein and calories high and the cost low. It took a lot to feed them, and Embry was pretty sure he'd be stuffing himself for days to bounce back from this. Ten sandwiches in, barely half his normal, and his stomach twisted. He managed to stumble to the bathroom but only with his Alpha's help, and felt like a jerk when he threw up the food that his Alpha had just given him. But it was Jake's arm supporting him over the toilet, and after he washed his mouth out and spat, it was Jake that helped him back to the couch. Embry was cold again, and didn't fight it as his brother started piling the blankets back up on top of him.

It was ridiculous that Embry almost teared up when Billy brought him a mug of chicken noodle soup.

"Eat slower," Billy said gruffly, handing him the soup. "Give yourself a chance to recover."

"Can't remember the last time I felt cold," Embry mumbled, but he smiled shyly at his father, and Billy rested a hand on his shoulder as Embry glanced down. "I look like shit, huh?"

"A man doesn't come back from a war looking the way he left," Billy said quietly. "Not on the outside and not on the inside either. There's no shame in having battle scars, Embry, not as long as they meant something. Not as long as they were worth something."

Embry nodded and sipped at his soup, noticing that Jake had slipped away into the kitchen, giving the two of them some time to talk alone. It hadn't passed Embry's attention that Billy had finally acknowledged him, and Embry didn't know entirely how to feel about that. His whole life he had wanted this man to claim him as a son, but right now Embry just wanted his old self back, or maybe just a warmer fuller version of his new self. He wanted his brother nearby, and he wanted to be with the rest of his Pack. And he wanted his girl. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and apologize for these last few weeks, he wanted to tell her how much he loved her, and how sorry he was that being brought into their Pack had been so hard for her.

Embry just wanted to close his wolf eyes and sleep for a while, preferably with Samantha in his arms, and his nose in her hair. That would be the best right about now.

He drank his soup and was able to keep it down, and out of the corner of his eye, Embry kept a watch on Billy. The wheelchair bound elder was staring across the room, his eyes unfocused, and his mouth occasionally shifting as if he wanted to say something but couldn't. It was hard on him, being the father of a bastard, because it was a sign of failure on Billy's part. Failure to be a good husband, failure to be a faithful one. And seeing Embry was also hard on him, because in attempting to protect his wife and family from shame, Billy had been a bad father to Embry, not a father at all in fact. That was failure as well. Embry understood this, had understood this long before he had accepted it, and in accepting it he had sympathy for the man. Hurt and anger, yes, but sympathy too.

It might have made Embry weak, but he loved Billy Black. He loved Billy because Billy might have not been a father, but Embry had a thousand pretend memories of how much his father had loved him in return, the times they had spent together, and the laughter and jokes they had shared. And just because those thousand memories hadn't happened yet didn't mean that they wouldn't or couldn't, not if Embry didn't let his resentment and hurt stand in the way. So he finished his soup and leaned his head against the couch he hadn't grown up on, and gave his father a tiny smile.

"Embry," Billy started, then he gritted his teeth and looked away. "Son, I haven't always done things the way I should have…"

Embry scraped a bit of chicken off the bottom of the mug and popped it into his mouth. Then he gave Billy a slightly embarrassed smile. "You're looking at the guy who's half wrecked his Pack over the last few months, and had to have his Alpha personally rescue him from himself. I've endangered my Pack and my girl, and I didn't even know it at the time. After everything I've done, or let my other half do, I'm not exactly in the position to judge someone else."

"I'm not sure five months is the same as twenty years, Embry," Billy sighed, and he turned his eyes back to Embry. For the first time Embry realized that Billy Black's eyes were chocolate brown, and it was with pain that Embry realized he had lost the only thing that he had gotten from his father. The rest of Embry looked like his mother, which was why so many on the reservation hadn't known who Embry's father really was.

"Jake's momma, she was a good woman, the best kind of woman. She never did a soul wrong in her whole life and she didn't deserve to be the loving wife whose husband stepped out on her," Billy said in a choked voice. "I know it was never fair to you, and when I lost her, I should have claimed you immediately, but I wanted so badly to do right by her. I couldn't-"

He couldn't shame a dead woman whom he had loved more than life itself. Billy's words caught in his throat and Embry bowed his head, looking at his hands. Then he looked back up at Billy and gave him a nod.

"A year ago that wouldn't have been enough," Embry admitted, shaking his head. "But now, now I think I get it. Now I know what it's like loving someone so much you'll do things you should never do just to keep them smiling. That I get."

Billy seemed to pull himself together, and gave Embry a worried look. "Son, I know you love her, but if Samantha Carter is Jake's imprint, that's only going to end in heartache for you. For all three of you."

"Not for me," Jake spoke up from the kitchen, his cheerful voice muffled from peanut butter. "The girl _I'm_ in love with is married and dead, so until I can break up a happy home and de-leechify Bells, I'm pretty busy. Sorry Dad, this wolf's not going to be heartbroken over Samantha Carter anytime soon. I'll stare at her ass though, I have to get something out of this whole having her in my gut thing. She's a feisty one."

Another growl pulled from Embry's throat unbidden, the wolf not appreciating the Alpha and his ability to take their mate. They would protect her, and Embry once again shoved the wolf to the side. Not to the back, but to the side, which was weird, but it was working. The wolf didn't appreciate getting manhandled, but Embry didn't appreciate feeling crazy for five months, so the fucker could deal.

Jake had poked his head back in, watching curiously as he chewed, his cheeks puffed out from having two peanut butter sandwiches stuffed into his mouth simultaneously. "You got him, Emb?" Jake asked, although what came out was more like, "Ru ror rim, Rmb?"

Billy gave Jake an amused look, which turned to disgust when a bit of peanut butter covered crust flew out of his son's mouth.

"I got him," Embry said, pleased and exhausted. "I'm glad too, because as strange as this feels, at least this way I can keep an eye on him."

"If you need me to torture you again, let me know," Jake said smugly, heading back to the kitchen and draining half the gallon of milk. "After all, the twins never come home anymore, so without them to bug, I'm starting to feel disgustingly well behaved. I need a sibling to bother, especially after that wonderful experience of getting to feel my brother nailing my impr-" Jake's voice broke off into a strangled sound as he bent forward over the kitchen counter, fingers gripping the laminate countertop.

With a bellow of sheer rage, Jacob Black broke the counter in half.

* * *

Cassie watched her wolf slip outside, casting her one last wink before he and Jack shut the door. She was able to hold her brave little smile up until the point when the door closed and then it slipped off of her face. She turned worried hazel eyes to Collin.

"Is this dangerous?" she asked in a small voice. "Is he going to be okay?"

Collin was already moving towards her anyways, as Brady locked the door behind Jack, and the young wolf snatched her up in the air, spinning around a couple times before dropping them both heavily into Sims's bed. "Cass," Collin said with utmost confidence, "If there's any single badass sonofabitch out there that you want handling things, Paul's the one you want. And if there's any wolf you want having your back in a fight, Jack's that wolf. I wouldn't want to face those two, even if I was an Alpha. Everything's going to be fine with them, okay?"

"Okay, Collin," Cassie agreed to be reassured, because she would rather be reassured than not. "But just know, if you're wrong, you may have to face my fists of fury."

"Your fists of fury?" Collin snickered as Cassie waggled her little fist in his face.

"Yes, my fists of fury. But I'll take it easy on you and just use one, you are a friend after all, and I'm very proud of you for getting rid of your crabs."

Collin groaned and flopped his head back on the pillow Jack had been using. "Really? _Really_? Is that shit _never_ going to go away?"

"If it helps, I'm almost out of crabs jokes," Cassie said impishly and Collin tapped her nose with one big finger as she added, "But I'll trade you no more jokes for going dancing with me again. I had a lot of fun and miss dancing with you, Collin."

"If papa wolf hadn't already imprinted, mama imprint," Collin said with a fond smile, "You would so be my dream girl. Hell yeah I'll come dancing with you, but right now, you need to rest up. When Paul comes back, if we get the go ahead, we're gonna take you girls hiking."

"I've never been to Yellowstone," Brady said, giving Sims an apologetic look as he stepped into her personal bubble. She was eyeing Cassie's makeup bag curiously.

"Brady, your rez trash ass has never been anywhere," Collin teased, although he softened the comment with a friendly smile. Brady smiled back and flipped him off.

"Don't pick on my bodyguard," Sims told Collin as she pulled her ponytail out, letting her dark wavy hair fall down her back. They never saw it down, not since Embry had called dibs on her hair. "Unlike Cassie, I have plenty of crabs jokes left in my arsenal, and unlike Cassie, you have nothing I want."

"Nothing?" Collin purred, raising an eyebrow, and Sims nodded emphatically.

"Definitely. _Nothing_."

Cassie had snuggled up to Collin's chest at this point, feeling her muscles relaxing against her will at the combination of Collin's heat and the painkillers now in full force. Her legs were sore, sorer actually from the bathroom with Paul, but it had been so good that she didn't care, and the warm fuzzy feeling she got from being with Paul like that added to her relaxation. Collin was rubbing her back idly as she cuddled, and Collin chuckled, throwing Brady a sly grin.

"I got the easy imprint to guard," he decided. "Have fun with that one."

"Because that's all you can handle," Brady smirked back, crossing his arms over his chest. "If you think I'm going to feel bad when I'm entrusted with the _Alpha's_ imprint, you're an idiot, Collin."

"Yeah, and if you fuck up, you can have both Emb and Jake eat you," Collin countered.

"Ever seen Paul pissed?"

Collin frowned, and admitted, "That's a good point. Imprints," he declared grandiosely, "On your best behavior."

"I'm never behaved," Cassie murmured sleepily as she tweaked Collin's nipple, and Sims gave him the finger. Brady snickered, and then glanced at Sims. She raised an eyebrow and Brady leaned against the sink counter.

"Just ask her," he murmured, "She won't care." Sims looked at Brady in surprise and then shrugged.

"You guys are weird," she decided with a touch of a smile. "Hey, Cassie? Can I dig through your makeup bag? I kind of wanted to paint my nails."

Cassie gave a thumbs up, because snuggling was better than talking at the moment and Collin blinked. "Sims is a girl. I never knew that."

"I miss everyone else but you, Collin," Sims decided. "I even miss Brady, who is right here. But you? Nope, not a bit."

Cassie listened to them banter back and forth, smiling when Sims sat on the counter and bugged Brady into letting her paint manly things onto his manly thumb. Brady resisted, but not very much, and Collin went back to tugging Cassie's hair the way he had last night. Cassie rarely took two of the blue pills, because they were the blue ones and even if they were the only ones to really make the pain go away for a while, Paul was right. They left her groggy. Maybe she should have thought beyond the fact that she hurt. Maybe Paul should have thought beyond giving them to her, having a much better idea than Cassie ever could of how dangerous today could be. Maybe Collin should have thought that keeping her more alert for a couple hours would have been a better idea.

Maybe they shouldn't have ever gone on this trip in the first place.

The tiny blonde imprint didn't think any of these things, and as the other people in the room became swirly pleasant blobs, Cassie only thought of how nice Collin was to keep her all warm and safe feeling as she slept. His was a good chest to sleep against and a good chest to dream against, because even if she was still empty in her room of nothingness, she could see the condensation on the window pane. And if she could just get off of her chair, she was pretty sure she could press her face against the wall and feel something again. The wolf's fur against her leg felt pleasantly like an arm around her waist, and even if the room of nothing smelled like Collin, she smelled like Paul, so maybe she was close to being something after all.

So she slept, slipping deeper and deeper into her dreams, and she was happy. She dreamed of dirt between her fingers and a lake that sparkled in the spring sunlight, she dreamed of Paul's hands on her skin and his rumbling voice in her ear. And when the door opened and the Calgary Alpha walked in, telling the boys that a room by the chlorinated pool on a windy day had been an awfully bad decision on their parts, Cassie slept through it all.

Cassie slept through the order that grabbed both wolves and slammed them face first into the floor at the feet of the Alpha as they rushed to protect their charges. Cassie slept through the words as Chitakido suggested to Sims that she not make a sound and go easy, or she was going to see what it was like to have both pups ordered to tear each other to shreds in front of her eyes. Cassie even slept through Calgary's Beta slinging a heavy tattooed arm around Sims's shoulders and hauling her out the front door, while Brady and Collin fought so hard to free themselves that Collin was shaking violently and blood was running out of Brady's mouth.

Cassie slept until Chitakido smiled in amusement and ordered Collin to kill her before walking out. Not even the blue pills could make her sleep through something like that.

* * *

Something was wrong.

Paul didn't know how he knew, but as he crouched at the edge of another Pack's territory, his fingers buried in the dirt at his side, he just _knew_. They had made the run, but nearing the border of what Jake had said was Yellowstone territory, Paul had slowed. They had made a sweep along the western border, Paul not willing to place an unknown Pack between him and his imprint, and the wind was blowing heavily to the east. He and Jack were making no effort to hide their arrival, but no one had come to investigate, something that would have happened immediately in Paul's own Pack. Making a fist and letting the dirt fall in his fingertips, Paul glanced up at the man standing just behind his shoulder.

"Jack?" Paul said quietly. "You know something I don't know?"

The ancient wolf frowned, and then knelt beside Paul, catching the dirt as it fell. He brought it to his nose, inhaling deeply, and then tasted it. Jack closed his eyes, murmuring to himself so softly that even Paul couldn't make out his words, and then Jack's flew opened again.

"The earth is in pain," Jack stated, his voice softened with sadness. "She has felt the blood of her children seep into her pores, and weeps. Much suffering has happened here, but whom and when, she doesn't say."

"You can tell that from eating dirt, Jack?" Paul asked skeptically, and Jack took Paul's wrist, turning Paul's hand until it was palm up. Jack sank his other hand into the soil and poured the fresh earth into Paul's hand.

"You are young, even if you are Third, and this world is noisy and fast," Jack murmured. "But it was not always like this. Once a man could sit and know a thousand days of sunlight at the brush of a single ray across his face. Now he knows only what is tangible, what he can touch and taste and smell, now he has lost that chance to be more than what he just is in a moment."

Paul glanced at Jack as the older wolf raised Paul's hand closer to his face. "The world has changed and we have changed with it. Now I too can only touch and taste and smell, and this earth tastes of iron, and smells of fear." He spread Paul's fingertips and the soil fell loosely away between Paul's fingers. "Even the earth wishes to go back to how it was, and wants little to do with us. Whatever it is that pains her, she wishes not our help. It is too late."

The Third said nothing, but nodded. Paul had seen too much, known too much to discount the Old Ways of their tribe, even if he himself did not understand or use them. But Paul tried to close his mind off and let the world around them speak to him. The park wasn't quiet, a sign that the larger predators weren't at hunt, but the bird song was hushed, as if they wished to not draw too much attention upon themselves. They were in a secluded side of the park, and the game here was much bolder, but even the smaller creatures were hesitant and skittish as they slipped past the two men in search for food. An eagle in the sky, calling out its piercing cry as it banked its wings and drifted away to the south, away from them.

A timber wolf and her pup, slinking silently through the underbrush, hungry but not hungry enough to draw attention upon themselves.

"Whatever happened here," Paul told Jack in a quiet voice. "It is our kind that did it. The earth may not speak to me, but the animals are clear. I'd move downwind if we could. Since we can't, keep your nose sharp. Do you sense any wolves?"

"I can try if it is necessary," Jack said obediently, but his voice trembled a little, and Paul glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes. The other wolf looked shaken.

"Jack, you okay?"

"I am not wanted here," Jack whispered, closing his eyes and rocking back a little. His voice trembled again, grew shaky as he seemed to slump in on himself. "I am not welcome. Not welcome, not here, not _anywhere_, traitor, murderer, betrayer, _forgotten forgotten forgot_-"

Paul's hand on the back on Jack's neck, squeezing hard, caused a shudder to go through the man's body and he went limp in Paul's grip, but the mumbling ceased. "I apologize, Third," Jack whispered, sounding ashamed, and Paul squeezed again.

"You got my back, brother?" Paul asked, standing up and bringing Jack with him, and the other wolf seemed to pull himself together, nodding. "Good, because we have to go in there and find out what's going on. I didn't come all this way to get spooked by some dirt and a few animals."

They decided to go human, because even though Paul was pretty sure that they could keep any random hikers or park authorities from seeing them, the last thing he needed was a hidden camera catching a horse sized wolf and his pony sized companion on film. Yellowstone Lake was on the southeastern side of the park and it was there that Jake had run across the other Pack in his travels, so Paul cautiously took his Packmate that direction, making sure to avoid the sightseers as the pair skirted to the southern and less visited side of the lake. The scent of Pack lingered in Paul's nose once they hit the water, but the trail was old and crisscrossed itself. Paul could track with his nose, but Jack could track with his eyes, quietly showing Paul the faintest traces of bare footsteps in the dirt that Paul would have otherwise missed. These wolves stayed human a lot, careful to pose as tourists when slipping into the more populated areas, but otherwise living in privacy and solitude.

Paul could understand why. It was beautiful here, peaceful, if he didn't have that overwhelming sense of wrongness. Jack was growing increasingly unsettled, which put Paul on a very strong alert, because Jack might be skittish and uncertain around people, but he didn't frighten easily. Paul kept casting concerned looks his companion's way, and finally put his hand back on the base of Jack's neck.

"I'm not going to let you get hurt," Paul told him quietly, but Jack shook his head ever so slightly so not to dislodge Paul's hand.

"That's not…the ancestors are loud in my head," Jack replied finally, looking distressed. "They are angry, so angry, and they block out what I should know. I feel blind, I _am_ blind."

"Then listen to your Third's steps and follow him, wolf without eyes," Paul chuckled, giving Jack a little shake before releasing him. "You are at the bottom of the Pack, brother. No one expects more of you than you are able to give. Lend me your jaws when they are needed, and lend me your wisdom if you are able, but if not, then just follow and be silent."

That Jack could do. The older wolf stayed at Paul's heels, seeming much more content to be there than at his side, and Paul wondered just what it was that had broken this man down so far. The Third had heard the ancestors but once, before his wolf side had pushed them away. Maybe hundreds of years of them chanting angrily in a man's head would be enough to drive anyone to break? They needed to focus and would think on it another day.

Jack had tracked the Yellowstone Pack this far, but Paul let his instincts guide him the rest of the way. Wolves wanted to be able to hole up, get their backs in a corner and walls around them. Jake had said the Pack was four strong, so wherever they holed up, it would have to be big enough for all of them. It was a strange concept for them all to live in the wild like this, but it occurred to Paul that he didn't know if Jack had a home or if he did this too. Certainly centuries of phasing would make anyone comfortable living outdoors, and their heritage made that even more likely. Paul headed for higher ground, deciding that if it were him here, and he was a small Pack living in the nearby shadows of La Push's and Calgary's larger Packs, then he would want a place where he could smell someone coming but they couldn't smell him.

By the time they reached the tallest rocky outcroppings, Paul was positive that something was wrong. They were only two wolves, and stronger or not, they were outnumbered and making no effort to hide their approach. They were doing everything short of yelling out their arrival, and this Pack would understand that. Yellowstone should have met them by now. Finally, as they climbed up the hill and stood below the tallest outcropping, the wind suddenly changed and a strong and frighteningly familiar scent burned Paul nostrils, causing him to freeze. Pack. Alpha.

_Tupkuk_.

Jack had grown very still, and as the scent of the two wolfborn mingled with that of their Alpha, Paul felt his stomach constrict so hard that he was almost ill. He glanced at Jack, and saw that the elder wolf was watching the entrance to the Yellowstone Pack's den with conflicted eyes. There was fear there, yes, but also a deep anger, so intense that it startled Paul. It was instinct that moved Paul's body between that of his Packmate and the Saskatchewan Pack, who from their vantage above and hidden, would most assuredly know Paul and his companion were there. He moved just in time too, because Jack had taken a step forward and bumped into Paul's back instead.

"You told Jake that the only wolf the Saskatchewan Alpha would kill without cause was you," Paul said softly, his eyes trained above them and feeling the heat of Jack's breath across his neck. He felt more than heard Jack's faintest nod of agreement. "Jack? I need you to go back now."

The ancient wolf stiffened, almost angrily, and Paul smelled Jack's emotions rise. They were too tangled to interpret, so Paul took another step backwards, forcing his wolf to step backwards too. "I need you to go back, brother, and you know what needs to happen when you do."

"You are not a match for him," Jack said, his voice coming out slightly strangled and Paul shrugged.

"And _we're_ not a match for all three of them," Paul admitted, feeling constriction in his belly twist tighter. "It's too late now. They could probably smell us from the time we stepped foot in the park and if they hadn't been waiting for us, they never would have let us track them here. But I'm not taking you in there, Jack, and that is an order. You _will_ leave, and I will see you back at home. Watch what is mine until then," Paul added softly, so softly that the words barely lifted off his tongue. He prayed that this Pack didn't hear them, didn't know that Cassie and Sims were close.

"Watch your thoughts, brother," Jack said in a hard clear voice, although he was trembling as he forced himself another step back. "This one can pick them from your bones like a crow picks the flesh from the dead."

Paul snarled at Jack, and it made the other wolf take another step backwards, although not without flinching from the weight of Paul's disapproval. Well, Jack could get over it, because Paul wasn't going to let his Packmate pick a fight with an _Alpha_. That was just insane, no matter how much bad blood the two may have between them. Still Jack hesitated, and Paul risked taking his eyes from the rock above to meet Jack's.

"_Go_. _**Go now**_."

Paul put all of his muscle behind that order, and with a final shudder and a snarl towards the hidden Pack, Jack spun and was gone. Paul turned around and came nose to nose with Hla'o, the brilliantly blue-eyed wolfborn having moved so fast that even Jack hadn't seen him coming before turning. This time Paul didn't flinch, held his ground, even if a low warning growl rumbled from his throat. The wolfborn was nude, and Paul could see a scattering of scarring across his shoulders and chest, something that wasn't often seen on Paul's own Pack. Either this wolf was bad at fighting, or it fought with strong enough wolves to actually be able to hurt it.

"It doesn't stink of fear," Hla'o smirked, tipping his head to the side as a second wolfborn jumped from the rocks, prowling behind Paul and making it clear that he was being flanked. The Third held his ground and held Hla'o's eyes.

"It doesn't have an imprint behind it," Paul growled back, and the second wolfborn, Wihl, breathed in his ear, dangerously close to the vulnerable back of Paul's neck.

"It doesn't," Wihl murmured, sounding amused. "I checked."

"I'm here to talk to your Alpha," Paul said firmly as the two circled him, and when they ignored him, Paul moved. The wolfborn were fast, and even though he just managed to get his hands on Hla'o's throat, Wihl danced back gracefully. Instead of being alarmed, Hla'o just smiled triumphantly and phased in Paul's grasp, causing Paul to have to duck and jerk sideways to avoid having his head bitten off. It should have frightened him, but instead it just pissed Paul off, and he rolled to his feet, now finding Wihl between him and the rocks. The wolfborn phased like his brother, blinking bright blue eyes before lunging at Paul, fangs snapping so close to Paul's throat that there was the lightest scratch that dripped a single drop of blood. Paul was pretty sure that if he had moved, the wolfborn would have killed him.

"I'm here to talk to your Alpha," Paul repeated with a snarl, smelling his own blood. "You drew first blood, which is an offense to _my_ Pack and _my_ Alpha. Let me through or kill me, but don't stand in my way anymore, you have already insulted La Push enough."

"Interesting," a voice rumbled from above them in Quileute, deep within the rocks but still audible to Paul's ears. "Two hundred years and we are still an insult to our brethren. It seems in this fast moving existence, some things will never change. Wihl, Hla'o, let him pass."

The wolfborn had been circling him, but at the command they pressed their sides together and halted. Paul couldn't tell them apart in wolf form, although his guess was that the one resting his head on the other's back was Wihl, and the one whose tongue was lolling out in amusement was Hla'o. Both stared at him with such intent that it made Paul want to shudder. Knowing how incredibly stupid that would be, Paul steeled himself and ignored the wolfborn, slowly climbing his way up the rocks and finding the concealed entrance into the Yellowstone Pack's den.

He was startled by what he found.

On some level, Paul had expected this Pack to live like men did when camping for long term in the wild, but the shallow rocky enclosure was incredibly bare. The floor was swept clean of dirt and debris, and in the back corner was a small circle of stones, a fire pit. There was nothing else, except for the Saskatchewan Alpha seated in the middle of the den, holding a small doll in his hand. Like last time, the shorter slender man's appearance was deceptive, that was until he turned dark brown eyes Paul's way. The weight of that stare nearly made Paul whine, but he held his ground, forcing aside his remembered fear at what this Alpha was capable of. Although if the Alpha's eyes weren't rimmed in red, still wet with tears, Paul might not have been able to.

"You brought too little, La Push wolf," Tupkuk said in a harsh voice, running a finger along the edge of the doll before resting it on his jean clad knee. "And you came too late."

"We weren't called," Paul murmured, his voice soft and respectful, even as his eyes cast about the den in search of meaning. There was nothing here, but the stink of fear was thick. Yellowstone had been very much afraid.

"We were _all_ called," Tupkuk growled, and Paul bent his head, finding himself wavering beneath this Alpha's anger. "The others did not listen, or in the case of your child Alpha, _could not_ listen. We were called, but I was too far. We were too late." Paul didn't know what they were too late for, and the Alpha gave him a weary look. "You wouldn't if your Alpha himself was unaware, and despite his own utter incapability, still your Alpha sent you. It's not a coincidence, his choice, although the pup didn't understand his own motives. If he had brought himself and the others days ago, our brothers might have been saved."

"I don't understand."

"How long ago did your Alpha decide to send you here?" Tupkuk asked in a dead sounding voice, and Paul shuddered, realizing that Pack information or not, he would have to tell this wolf what it wanted to know. He was simply too strong for Paul not to.

"Three days before this one," Paul admitted through gritted teeth and Tupkuk bowed his head. When he realized that tears were now streaming openly down the Alpha's face, Paul was completely unsure of what to do. But he was Pack, even if he was a different Pack, and seeing an Alpha distressed hurt him, even an Alpha that he was frightened of. So Paul knelt and edged closer on his knees, trembling as he did, thinking he was a fool if he died today for this singular action. But Tupkuk was watching him now, and Paul had committed himself to this, so he shifted closer, a frightened dog at the feet of unknown master.

Paul was _**Jake's**_. The fury of his own Alpha pulled Paul up short, and caught between wanting to appease this Alpha and appease his own, this time the Third did bow his head, a whine slipping from his throat.

"Come here," Tupkuk said quietly, and despite the raging Alpha hundreds of miles away, this Alpha's voice was stronger, and Paul shifted to Tupkuk's side, his head bowed as he shivered. The Alpha placed his hand on the back of Paul's neck, and Paul knew that if this one chose to kill him, all it would take would be a single snap, and Paul would never be able to stop it from happening. Tupkuk knew this too, and the old wolf squeezed slightly. "Your Alpha is angry with me, but I am angry with your Alpha," Tupkuk murmured, the pressure on Paul's neck increasing. "Perhaps I should kill you as a sign of where he and I stand?"

The Third could do nothing, and let it be. A serenity passed through Paul's soul, and he stopped trembling, allowed himself to be still. He had lived a short life, but it had been a good one. He had felt the earth give beneath his feet, and his mate's breath against his soul. There was nothing to fear, he had done as he had been asked, had obeyed his Alpha regardless of the consequences. He was loyal, and he was brave. There was no shame in his life, and there would be no shame in his death.

The Alpha's hand shifted from his neck to rest atop his head. "You're a good wolf," Tupkuk said softly, "And it is not right for you to pay for the mistakes of your Alpha."

The Third said nothing, listened to the cry of the hawk in the distant, felt the presence of the wolfborn stretched out before the den entrance, smelled the salt in the Alpha's tears, which still slid unbidden down his face.

"I lost friends that day, Paul Coho," Tupkuk whispered, "The day I was too far away, the day your Alpha did not listen, the day the others would not come. They were four against many, but they had honor. They stood and fought Chitakido's Pack instead of letting themselves be taken and used as the tools of a dishonorable wolf. They died badly, but they died without shame. There is not insult for them, only insult to the rest of us for allowing it to happen."

Us. Us, but not Paul. Us, meaning Tupkuk. Us, meaning Jake. Us, meaning Jack?

"The _kadidu_ has no honor left," Tupkuk snarled, and Paul shuddered again, aware of Jack's warning. "You did right to send him away. His presence here defiles our brothers' memory, and I would have killed you both if you had allowed him to stay."

"He is my Pack," Paul growled lowly, his growl cut off as Tupkuk cuffed him atop the head.

"The _dog_ is no one's Pack," the Alpha snapped, his voice causing the wolfborn outside to shift.

"He is mine," Paul whispered, and Tupkuk looked at him again. Then Tupkuk sighed, no longer smelling of anger and hatred, only sadness and exhaustion.

The Alpha shook his head. "The traitor at the heels of a fool. What a Pack you have chosen, Paul Coho, mine would suit you much better. I don't waste my wolves' lives unnecessarily."

"Neither does Jake," Paul managed to get out, wishing that Jake would stop roaring in his head over this. Jake had sent him here, this was the best that the Third knew how to do. The thought softened his Alpha's fury, although Paul could still feel it rolling through his soul. "I was sent to ask a question of Yellowstone, there was no waste in that."

Tupkuk smirked a little, and then cuffed Paul's head again, although lightly enough it didn't hurt. "Then by all means, pup, ask."

"What happened to the Packs?" Paul asked in an appeasing voice, wishing that his enraged Alpha would understand that meekness, knowing his place was the only reason Paul wasn't _dead_ right now. "Why are they scattered? Why are we many instead of one? This is what my Alpha wanted to know."

Jake wanted _Paul_ to know that if he didn't get on his fucking_ feet_ and stop groveling before this _asshole_, than Paul was going to have to find a new Pack because Jake didn't want him anymore. Jake said something else, but Paul couldn't hear because that hurt.

That hurt.

That _**hurt**_.

Paul tried to stand, but the hand on top of his head softly pushed him down.

"Be still, pup, your Alpha can wait," Tupkuk said with a touch of a smirk. "He wanted to play Pack politics, and he will get his wish. If he regrets sending his Third to do it for him, then that is your Alpha's fault and is not your own. Sit and listen."

Something was wrong.

Something was wrong, but the Third didn't know what.

Something was wrong, but the Third didn't know what, and this Alpha was asking him to be still, so he would be.

Jake was screaming in his mind but Paul only knew the comfort of this Alpha's pleased expression, and the weight of the hand that was stroking his bowed head absently.

"There was a time when the white man was never known in this land, Paul," Tupkuk said in a smooth, soothing voice. "The ways of our people were good, and those good ways stayed the same. But the white man is like a child, ever growing, ever wanting, ever reaching. He reached from his world and into ours, and it was not enough for him to share. What we had protected for thousands of years, he took in a couple hundred. And when he took too much, we who protect set ourselves against him. That was never our way, the shedding of man's blood was never accepted, not when we held such capability to do so. A single wolf, alone, could slaughter thousands if he so chose."

A feeling, he should be noticing something, something more than the words in his ear and the hand on his head.

"We were given a gift and we used it unwisely," Tupkuk whispered, and then his eyes narrowed and his voice hardened. "But we were given no leniency, either, and the Pack was split apart, driven away and scattered. It is a hard thing to stand on the edge of the place you called home for centuries, only to be cast out like a sickness, a disease. We are many because we can no longer trust each other to be one. We are brothers, but we must watch ourselves, for we have no Alpha to calm our differences and lessen the violence of our disputes. We are Pack, but have crumbled and cracked until we are only a shade of what we have been, what we should have been. The age of the Cold One is coming, Paul Coho, but the age for those who guard this land has slipped away like the setting sun. We are a dying Pack, we have just chosen a long and painful way of doing so."

"The Packs were banished from La Push for killing the white man?" Paul mumbled, feeling pressure to rise, to listen, but not to this wolf. "Why is there no record of this? It can't have happened very long ago."

"Two hundred years," Tupkuk said quietly, and his hand slid down to squeeze Paul's neck again, controlling, but Paul was realizing something was wrong, and Jake was hovering in his senses, his words muffled but loud. "And there is no record of this because we should be allowed to die in peace, away from the descendants of the ones who could stay. There is no records of this because our Alpha ordered it so, stripped the tribe of our shame, even as we were punished from that shame. There is no record of this because young Packs of La Push should not know of us. It is dangerous. So very dangerous."

"Why?" Paul had to know, even though Jake was almost through. But this last thing Paul had to know.

"Because you have what we cannot, and never can again," Tupkuk said with a tiny smile as he released Paul from his grip and sat back, holding Paul's eyes. "Because we want to _kill_ you, sons of our Alpha, for having that which we cannot. Even those such as I."

And then his Alpha blasted through, his roaring voice so loud in Paul's soul that it threatened to tear him apart, screaming at Paul that Calgary had Samantha and that Cassie and the pups were going to die. His imprint's fear slammed into him like a wrecking ball and Paul staggered back, staggered to his feet, looked down at Tupkuk in horror.

"_What did you do_?" Paul whispered in a sick voice before he spun on his heel and fled, leaping over the wolfborn and phasing midair. He hit the ground at a dead run and was gone. The Alpha sat quietly and lifted up the tiny figurine, one Tupkuk had made centuries ago and given to the Yellowstone Alpha when that wolf had been just a child. He traced its features with his thumb, whispering ever so softly to himself.

"I saved your life."

* * *

Cassie woke up with Collin's hand around her throat.

It took her so completely by surprise that she wasn't even scared. How could she be scared? It was Collin, and Collin was one of the people she adored the most in this world. He was sweet and kind and loving, and even though he got teased a lot, he still laughed and smiled and meant it. He had this huge heart, and these wonderful arms, and she thought that as guys went, he was just about perfect. Not as perfect as Paul, but pretty darn close. So therefore when the contact of trembling flesh against her own caused her heavy lids to flutter open, it didn't occur to Cassie to be afraid. Instead she smiled trustingly at him, because he was Collin and full of all things good, and she loved him. If he was touching her throat then he must have an awfully good reason.

It was the smile that saved her life.

The Calgary Alpha might have been stronger than Collin was, but the wolf Collin was destined to be could never do this, not to an imprint, not to their most trusting and vulnerable Packmate. And Collin might have been sweet and kind and loving, but his wolf was one nasty sonofabitch who was not ready to cave to an Alpha that it had no love for. They might have been weaker, but they were strong enough to slam their fists through the headboard, through the wall, and stop from doing something that they would never ever forgive themselves for.

Collin wasn't Chitakido's, he was Jake's and right now Jake was exploding. The La Push Alpha had felt three of his wolves be taken from his control, nearly simultaneously, and whatever was happening to Sims right now had driven Jake to a sheer unadulterated rage. It was enough to send Seth staggering sideways into Chancy, his new friend surprised and confused as she grabbed for his waist, holding him up until Seth apologized in a whisper and left her and his bucket on the beach at a dead run. It was enough to level the rest of his Pack to their knees across the reservation, Leah slamming her head into the shower faucet as she fell. It was enough that from nearly three thousand miles away, a blue eyed child glanced up from her dolls and tipped her head to the side in interest.

It was enough that Jake was able to blow through Chitakido's hold on both Collin and Brady, the Calgary Alpha cursing as the two wolves were ripped out of his grasp. It was enough to make Tupkuk's eye narrow in challenge and clamp down on Paul protectively, and that took Jake's rage to a whole new level. His imprint was being dragged by her hair, and it _hurt_, and her instincts told her that these men were going to kill her. She was fighting and screaming, but she was just a human girl and even though Brady had dashed after her the instant Jake had broken the hold, there were wolves all around her now. The woods were full of them, and they were going for Brady and Collin on their Alpha's pleasantly voiced orders, Brady to damage, Collin to kill.

Cassie didn't know this, she just knew that Collin had grabbed her and he was running, running, running so very fast into the forests. She only knew that he was running but someone had just taken his legs out from underneath him, and there was a horrible snarling as Collin's arms braced around her as they went crashing to the ground. Snarls, more and more, and she saw the look of fear and regret in Collin's eyes as he muscled himself off of her, two wolves biting and clawing at his back as he heaved himself up and phased. Cassie instinctively curled up in a ball, beneath a crouching wolf that was getting torn to shreds by so many others, unable to move without leaving her exposed. He twisted and bit, spinning in circles as he tried to fight, and Cassie heard him yelp in pain as the furry stomach above her was forced downwards, nearly crushing her with his weight.

She might have screamed Collin's name, she might have screamed Paul's, but Paul's terror slammed into her at the same time Collin was thrown into her, forcing Cassie into the earth. Collin tried, god how he _tried_ to get off of her, so much so that he fell sideways, his throat exposed to the wolves swarming him. Two lunged at the same time, new wolves to this Pack and unable to work together, their muzzles smacking together and the first's teeth just barely missing Collin's jugular.

And then Jack was there.

His human arms snagged her and snapped her up and away from Collin, the ancient wolf making a running leap for the nearest evergreen, grabbing a limb and scrambling upwards, the imprint in his grip. Jack hoisted Cassie up on the branches just high enough to miss the snapping jaws that followed them up, and she was trying to scramble higher even as her bare feet touched bark. Cassie was looking Jack's eyes as he dropped back down, phasing midair, and in all her years, she had never seen anything like it.

Cassie had never seen anyone go berserker before. Today was her lucky day.

Adrenaline had countered the drugs in her system, fear for Collin and Jack and Brady, terror for Paul and Sims. It might have been that scent that drove a wounded and bleeding Collin to his feet and to the base of the tree, snarling horribly, a cornered animal ready to fight for its life. He didn't have to. Jack had lost it and was killing everything his jaws could touch. It was terrible, the snarls of fury turning into cries of pain as Jack darted in and out of the wolves, their feet out from beneath them and their throats laid open before they even realized what had happened. The more wolves that appeared, the more frenzied Jack became, as if just being there was such a horrible insult to the ancient wolf that it meant their certain deaths in recompense.

Collin was swaying on his paws, bleeding profusely, and Cassie let out a cry when the beautiful young wolf slid to the ground, unable to keep his feet any longer. It took the La Push Pack moving at a dead run for five hours to get there, and it took an utterly panicked Paul thirty-five terrible minutes after Collin blacked out to make sure that his Packmate and his imprint weren't dead, like the thirteen wolves that Jack had killed before they had fled the violence of his jaws. Having stayed with Paul's imprint and his downed brother until Paul came crashing into the crimson stained woods, Jack was still trying to find the Alpha's imprint and their second unconscious Packmate when the infuriated Alpha and his Pack got there.

Jack had tracked them to a grassy landing strip out in the mountains, but it was too late. Calgary was gone, and they had taken Brady and Sims with them.

* * *

Ten on one was bad odds, but when the Beta joined in just for the fun of it, Brady never stood a chance. But he never stopped trying, never stopped fighting to get to Sims, his claws scrambling at the dirt as he tried to force past the wolves biting him, the fists beating him. Just for the fun of it, Chitakido grabbed Sims by the hair and dangled her over the young wolf, biting the nape of her neck so hard that blood welled up and dripped down across Brady's torn nose. The smell of her blood was too much for him, was too much for the Alpha who was so damn _massive_ in Brady's head that Brady was just a body, struggling to do what his Alpha needed.

Somewhere out there, Jack had lost his mind, lost his mind because the Alpha's imprint was close enough that Jack could save her, but he was saving Collin and Cassie instead. Somewhere in here, Brady was pretty sure things had broken that weren't supposed to break, but his Pack was driving him, throwing everything they had into him to get him that last inch.

So fucking close he could _taste_ her.

Chitakido smirked and lifted Brady's head, his body pinned and shattered, and pressed Sims's face into Brady's jaws, knowing, _knowing_ that Jake could see and hear everything. "How about this," the tattooed covered Alpha said in a reasonable tone. "You can help her die painlessly now, or _I_ can do it the long way. What do you think, Jacob Black? Do you want to kill yourself quickly or slowly?"

One last push, everything Jake had, and Brady's jaws almost closed over the Alpha's throat. Instead they fell short, and as Chitakido's Pack lunged to protect their Alpha, tearing and beating at the wolf until even the Jake's strength couldn't keep Brady conscious anymore, he sighed, giving Sims a resigned look.

"Well, I did _offer_," Chitakido said in a placating tone, for the first time paying attention to the girl struggling in his grip, screaming for them to stop, they were killing her Packmate, please _stop_. Calgary lifted her up by the scruff of the neck like a kitten and gave her an interested glanced. "You know, Samantha Carter, you're not half bad looking." His fist across her face knocked her out cold, leaving her limp in his grip.

Chitakido smiled and nuzzled her bloodied nose fondly, stating, "We'll have to work on that."


	19. Chapter 17

A/N There's very little Cassie in this chapter, and there's also a violence warning on this one, so feel free to skip it if need be. At points this chapter may seem choppy, but it is intended to be read like that. The reason why this took an extra week was I had family visit, and I didn't get a chance to write the way I had thought I would. If anyone ever wants progress on updates, feel free to stop by my live journal account, you can find the link on my homepage. I post progress updates there. :) Also, there was an alternate ending to this chapter that I will post in my lj, most likely tomorrow, if anyone's interested. The alternate ending is better writing, but this ending worked better for the story. Thanks as always to my reviewers: _pinkshirt, ally leigh, SugaLumps, Roonani, Manna1, OverThinker DayDreamer, LexaBrooke, EnglishVoice, KerryH, MadToTheBone1, hilja, LightIsPrecious, StealthLiberal, Buffyk0604, dixonmichiah, SARAH DB, QahlanKwaiya, esoteric desideratum, LucyPenny, InsanelyxLOUD, EaSofie, megawords19, 99wolves99, HopefulHeartache, Jacobleah, laurazuleta 18, toalli, TeffieS, mcc3654, alwaysxlove, cylobaby, _and_ garlauri._

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Seventeen

"_There is something inherently dangerous in becoming something valuable to someone powerful."_

_**-EnglishVoice**_

* * *

Thirty-five minutes. Thirty-five minutes to get to her. The worst thirty-five minutes of his whole fucking life.

For the rest of her life, Cassie never told a soul that when he pulled her out of that tree, crushing her and a barely conscious Collin to his chest, that Paul broke down and sobbed like a child.

* * *

The passengers were scattering out of his way. Good. They should be.

There were few things bad enough to make Paul shove his imprint on an airplane, alone and defenseless, with a bruise stretching from her shoulder to her hip. The possibility that his whole Pack, imprints included, could be dead in a matter of hours was one of those things. Still he didn't have to like it. The Missoula International Airport wasn't crowded, but the passengers still managed to duck out of the way of the tall and imposing Native American man striding through the terminal, his face grim and his eyes angry. Not a few felt sorry for the tiny blonde woman holding his hand, half a step behind his huge form as she scurried to keep up.

Cassie didn't have any bags, and she was squirrel-less, but Paul didn't give a damn if Cass was _naked_, he was getting her out of here. He had suggested anywhere in the world that wasn't Russia or this continent, but Cassie was fighting leaving him so hard that Paul was taking what he could get. His imprint was scared for him and wanted to stay by his side, but he would never let that happen, not if he had any say in the matter, which he did. Why? Because she was his _imprint_, and if anything happened to her, it was going to rip his fucking heart out of his chest and kill him. His whole damn universe was packed into her tiny little body, the body he had pulled crying out of a tree only an hour ago, and Paul wasn't going to let her anywhere near this fight, not any longer. She was scared, but Paul was scared too. He had a lot to lose right now, just about everything, actually, and he was pretty sure that if he could just know that Cassie was safe…_safer_, then he could face this with more strength.

They were trying to find Calgary, and when they did, wolves would die. Paul had spent enough time with Cassie, learning appreciate life enough to deeply regret that. He just prayed that it wasn't one of his own that was lost.

"Paul," Cassie said, tugging on his hand as he let out a low snarl at someone who was stupid enough to meet his eyes. "Paul, stop growling at people, you're scaring them."

"Good," Paul snapped back, leveling a glare at the airport. It was the same glare that made it clear he _would_ be getting a non-passenger pass to escort Cassie through the terminal, it was the same glare that made a poor woman step out of the bathroom next to them and nearly fall in her efforts to back up away from Paul.

His imprint was giving him a sad look, one that said that he was breaking that huge heart in her little chest, but Paul steeled himself against it. Thirty-five minutes. Thirty-five minutes of running so hard he thought his own heart would burst out of his chest, praying, hoping against hope that his Packmates could protect her long enough for him to get there. He had lived through that once, he wasn't doing it again. The imprints were under attack and Paul wasn't taking any chances with his. Even as he dragged Cassie through the airport, Jared was literally shoving Kim and Emily in a back room in Sam's house while Sam was patrolling the inner reservation, and Quil was pacing the Makah reservation, completely paranoid over Claire. Jake had ordered Leah back to the uncertain safety of the reservation and Seth to stay with Leah, and while both were utterly incensed, they had been forced to obey, even the she-wolf. The few of the Pack that were left were crouched outside of town at Jake's side, waiting for when Samantha or Brady woke up, if they woke up, so that Jake could track them down through the imprint bond.

Fuckers still had her and Brady unconscious and they could be anywhere, but the Pack _would_ find them. And then there would be hell to pay.

Maybe growling at the five year old girl that just looked his way was a touch overboard, because Cassie slammed on the brakes. Unfortunately Paul didn't slam on the brakes, meaning that Cassie got dragged a step before Paul realized she was actually trying to get free of his grip.

"Paul!" Cassie said louder, and she said something to him in Russian, pointing at the now crying child. He wasn't really sure what she was saying, but the words didn't sound very nice. He tried to smile, but it was forced and showed teeth, and the little girl cried even harder. Biting down on his growl, Paul hoisted up Cassie by his arm around her waist and hauled her a few long strides before dropping her back to her feet, safely away from crying children. This terminal station was her, a flight to Los Angeles and then on to Moscow. Los Angeles was sunny, not a lot of leeches. A thirty minute layover, and she'd be out of the country, away from the danger.

Flying towards a different one. _Fuck_.

Paul didn't realize that he was trembling, or that he had stopped in front of the gate and was crushing her in his arms, his nose on her shoulder.

"Paul," Cassie said sadly, her arms wrapping around his neck tightly as she made a soothing noise in her throat. Paul didn't care who was there, who was watching. He pulled them both towards one of the small uncomfortable airport seats and hauled her into his lap. She didn't tell him everything would be okay, because they didn't know that, and it occurred to Paul that this might be the last time he got to hold her. You know…if things went bad.

"Cass," Paul started to say, but then his voice got rough and he closed his eyes, burying his face against her throat. "Cass, when you leave, I'm gonna try to do what Jake did with Sims, try to thin the bond down between us. It might not matter, with you gone so far away, but just in case…"

"Just in case what, Paul?" Cassie asked in a tiny voice, and he snuffed against her neck. Shit. Shit shit _shit_. He didn't want to ever have had to say this shit to her.

"If something happens to me, I don't know what it'll do to you, Cass," Paul finally grunted, not meeting her eyes. "I'm going to try and thin the bond, so in case we don't win this, you have a better shot at being okay." Cassie was shaking her head, her eyes flashing as she opened her mouth, but Paul cut her off. "Momma, remember all those times you said I loved you and I just wasn't ready to admit it yet? Well I do. I love you, every fucking inch of you, and this is the best I can do. Please don't fight me, not with this, not now."

Cassie closed her mouth, then stared off across the terminal, her eyes sad. "Paul, what if it hurts you? What if it weakens you when you need to be strong? What if staying tied closely with me helps you?"

"I don't need help, Cass," Paul decided gruffly, "I just need to know you're safe."

It was the wrong thing to say, but after the hurt look was pushed away from her face, she just nodded and smiled bravely at him. "If that's what you need," Cassie said softly. Then she glanced at him hopefully. "But can you wait until I leave? I kind of don't really want to do this, and it's better if I can pretend you aren't."

They should do it now, now so he had a chance to make sure he was doing it right, but Paul just kissed her. Her mouth tasted like Cass, her skin smelled like fear and Collin and him. She was his girl and he was sending her away, far away, where he couldn't protect her. But he couldn't protect her here either, and this seemed like a lesser of two evils. He broke away and went back to snuffing her neck, deep hard sniffs that were drawing attention, but he couldn't give a rat's ass. The last time. Fuck, this could be the last time.

Paul didn't remember standing up. He didn't remember hauling her down the terminal back towards the men's bathroom. It wasn't empty, not completely, and damn it she deserved better than this. Two bathrooms, one day. Cass sure had picked herself a winner. But she didn't fight it when he dragged her into the far stall, thankfully clean, and after kissing her like he was drowning, she willingly placed her hands against the wall. Paul unfastened her pants and pulled them down, his tall body curving over hers as he kissed the nape of her neck, her ear lobe, her jaw. His muscled arm braced against tile wall in front of them and he guided her hands to his forearm. She didn't need to be touching this shit if he could do it for her. His girl. _His_. Paul pressed up behind her, his free hand sliding between her legs. Cassie bit her lip to stifle the moan of pleasure as he found the right places, right away.

"Cass," he whispered roughly against her skin, hearing someone enter the far end of the bathroom. She was wet already, maybe from her need, more than likely from his. "You okay with this? Do you want this?" She leaned her forehead against his arm and nodded.

"I want _you_, Paul," she said decisively, and some part of him loved, _loved_ that she didn't keep her voice down. "Even here, like this."

Yeah well, he wanted her here too. Her plane was boarding any minute, they didn't have a lot of time. Never ever enough _time_. Paul unbuttoned his jeans and unzipped them, letting his length free. Her thong looked cute on her ass, an ass maybe a little rounder than when they had first met, and despite the fear and desperation he was struggling with, Paul smiled and tapped her hip lightly before giving her a squeeze.

"You look better and better every time I see you, momma," he chuckled, and her lips curved against arm. Then Paul sighed and kept his hand on her hip, guiding himself into her. Cass was tight, and it felt amazing having her bent over in front of him like this. The sink was running, but he was touching her again, whispering nearly inaudibly in her ear just how much he wanted her, how much he was always going to want her, how she was the best fucking thing that had ever happened to him. And she was shaking, biting into his arm with her teeth to keep from crying out, but he wanted to hear that, so he shifted backwards, mouth still against her neck as he hoisted her up.

One arm angled across her chest, his hand still between her thighs, her booted legs wrapping backwards around his for balance. It was an awkward position, but Cass had spent a lifetime in dance and Paul was strong enough to hold her like this all day. He groaned at the change of feeling, and then realized that it was hitting her just right. Three hard thrusts and Cassie was crying out wordlessly, three more and Paul was finishing what he had started. He held her still as his life, his love for her, filled her body. Looking down, his could see their lovemaking, his possession of her. _His_. Cassie was his, no matter where they were. Damn, if she was naked he would be able to see every inch of her like this. Even partially clothed, his imprint was the hottest thing he had ever seen in his life…

No longer having anything interesting to listen to, the man in the far stall went about with his business. The hottest thing had suddenly become the smelliest thing, and several trumpets later, Cassie was making gagging sounds while Paul laughed.

"Eww! _Eww_!" Cassie cried, holding her nose and trying to wiggle free as Paul held her easily, keeping her trapped. "Paul!"

"I kind of think it's sexy, Cass," Paul teased even as he shifted her off his body and lightly set her on her feet. Cassie gave him an incredulous look.

"It's _stinky_, Paul!" Cassie wailed as she tried to jerk her pants on as fast as possible with the hand not holding her nose. "Sweaty is sexy, dirty is sexy, but _stinky_ is not sexy!"

"It's not _that_ bad," the man in the far stall said, just a bit offended. Cassie made an eeping noise and blushed bright red, causing Paul to laugh even harder. Then he zipped up his pants carefully and led his grossed out imprint out of the bathroom. Right as they passed the stall, their offended bathroom companion made sure to show his displeasure, sending Cassie screeching and bolting for the door. Paul followed her, grinning as she hopped circles in the middle of the walkway, flailing her arms to beat off the stench.

"I'm unclean, Paul!" Cassie wailed loudly, flapping even harder. "I'm _unclean_! I'm the stinky imprint again!"

And yeah, maybe Paul was going to die today because he was a wolf, and maybe everyone he cared about was going to be right there with him. But damn, he loved this girl, and he wouldn't change a single second of any of it all. So Paul smiled and stepped forward, gathering his stinky imprint in his arms.

"Aww, Cass, but you're still my stinky imprint, so it's okay," he promised her. He could hear them announcing her flight, so Paul held Cassie a little tighter. She heard it to, and she stopped flailing, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Paul?" She started to ask, and then her lip quivered. "Paul, please-"

He cut off her plea with a kiss, a long deep one that wasn't stinky at all. Then he pulled away and pressed his forehead to hers. "Cass, I'm going to have to keep my phone off to be safe. When everything's over I'll call you, and if I don't, you stay away, baby. Don't come back here. If there are any of us left, one of us will find you, but if we don't, you be strong and you take care of yourself. Don't you let people treat you bad, just because you love them. You make them treat you good, or you walk, okay? Whether I'm here or not, you're always going to have me behind you. I'll always have your back. You be strong, Cass, you let yourself be little and you'll be just fine."

"Paul, don't say goodbye," Cassie whispered, tears filling her pretty hazel eyes, and Paul wiped them away with a smile.

"I'm not. After all, you may not realize it, but you're marrying me when you come back, momma," he told her with a cocky grin, and Cassie laughed despite her tears. Then she gave him a steady look, her eyes serious.

"Ask me properly, Paul," she said softly, and Paul tilted his head. Cassie meant it, he could tell, but Paul didn't have a ring and they were calling her plane. He had to be with Jake the moment Sims woke up, because Jake needed him, and this was the wrong place and most definitely the wrong time.

And so the scary angry Native American man proposed to his beaming blonde girlfriend in the middle of the airport, in front of everyone. He asked her to marry him in Quileute, she said yes in Russian. He put the rubber band in his pocket on her ring finger, and she treated it like it was the most important thing that she had ever been given. The truth of the matter was that it was. So she kissed him again and didn't cry anymore, and she got on a plane, because she loved him and that's what he needed from her.

And she never told him that when he shoved their imprint bond down so deep that he could barely feel her, that his loss left her crying in her seat all the way to California, her rubber band pressed to the Paul sized hole in her heart.

* * *

It occurs to Jacob Black that somewhere along the line he made a mistake. Or maybe he's made a series of mistakes, all of which led to this point and all of which cannot be taken back. Maybe if he has the chance to sit back and ponder them, he'll figure out each and every one of those mistakes, but for the moment he has more important things to focus on instead of guilt and self-recrimination.

Another Alpha kidnapped his imprint. Short of killing her directly, there was no better way of declaring war.

It occurs to Jacob that he tried to treat this imprint the logical way. He had tried to keep her life and her emotions in mind, and in doing his best not to disrupt her life as much as possible, he had also kept his own life as close to the same as he could. She was another of his Pack, maybe tied closer, but just a girl, his brother's girl, someone to protect but not to necessarily care about. The sixteen year old boy that he had once been might have finally accepted his role as Alpha, but his heart was his own, and he would never let something else change that for him, not without a fight. It had almost been too easy, as if he had found the one girl tough enough and stubborn enough to fight the imprint as hard as he wanted to himself.

Damn, had this shit backfired.

Maybe he had picked the wrong girl on purpose, maybe she would have been a friend instead of a lover, maybe she would have been a confidant, maybe nothing at all. It was possible that Jacob would never know, because it was probable that Samantha was going to die. It was equally probable that Jacob wouldn't, because he might be tied to her, but not enough. Not enough to find her when she was unconscious or possibly still in the sky. Not enough to give her strength for what was going to come. The best he could hope for was to be ready, ready for the moment she awoke, or Brady awoke, when those bonds snapped back in place so that he could track them down. The best he could hope for was that she stayed the strong, stubborn, crazy ass bitch his brother was in love with, because that was her best chance right now.

It occurs to Jacob that it was pretty damn sad that Samantha Carter was an Alpha's imprint and she was her own best chance.

Brady would do everything he could, but they had all felt the pup's body give beneath the beating he had already received, and it would only get worse. If Samantha's chances in this were slim, Brady's were nearly non-existent. The Pack that crouched on the ground around him knew this, and it was only their Alpha's quietness that kept them in place, resting on their bellies, strengthening themselves and waiting…waiting for him to release them to fight. He just doesn't know when and where yet.

It occurs to Jacob Black that this might be the worst day of his life, because he's never actually been so damn _wrong_ before. He's used to being right, he's used to being sure, he's used to being in control. He's got a damn smart Beta to put him on the right path if he's being stupid, and a Third that was easily twice as powerful as Paul himself had ever realized. He's got a she-wolf, one that he's been pretty damn partial to, and a line-up of wolves at his command and at his back that may be green but who are strong. And he's got Jack, and he thinks he's one lucky bastard for that.

Except the Beta isn't there, he's been sent home and is gnawing his own paws off in frustration even as he guards their homes and imprints with Sam, Jared, and Quil. The she-wolf is gone too, because Jacob Black has made a lot of mistakes recently, but allowing her anywhere near this wasn't going to be one of them, no matter how furious she was about it. Half of his Pack is gone. Jacob's got Paul, Embry, Collin, and Jack at his back, which isn't great because Collin's healing but still injured and scared to death and Jack's been shredding what was left of his sanity ever since he had crawled on his belly to Jake, devastated and thinking his place in this Pack was gone now.

But Jacob had Paul, who was angry and focused and ready to fix this, now that Cassie was gone and as safe as she could be. And he had Embry, who was almost frighteningly controlled, whose white hot fury at finding his girl had been taken, had pushed him past Sam and driven him nearly equal to Paul again in strength. And poor Collin, who was terrified, but that terror centered around losing Brady more than anything else. Collin thought this was all his fault. The kid hadn't really had any other choice, he had needed to save Cassie, but he had known he was abandoning his best friend to an Alpha to do it. Jacob had tried to send Collin back, but Collin was staying. Pup had some backbone, Jacob had to give him that.

And so they lay in the woods in Montana, and they waited, and Jacob Black rested his muzzle on his leg as he made a decision. After all it occurred to him that wanted or not, he had an imprint now, and short of her dying, there was no changing that. Samantha might be in Embry's bed, but if Jacob managed to get her back, she'd be glued to Jacob's hip from now on.

If he got her back.

When he got her back.

He _would_ get her back.

The inferno resting below Jacob's control grew a little hotter, rolled over his limbs like liquid, so that he was nearly quivering from containing it. Mother fucker took his fucking_**imprint**_. And at this point it didn't matter anymore what happened, Calgary was going to fucking _**die**_.

* * *

Samantha came awake because she was drowning.

There had been a lot of frightening things in her life recently, but this one was by far the most, because there was absolutely nothing supernatural about this. Her face was covered by a thin towel, her arms and legs were being pinned down, and someone was pouring water on her face. She coughed and spat, but it was going in her nose, in her mouth, and even though she twisted and fought to turn her head, someone's hand on her chin was forcing her face to stay in one spot. Someone was snarling, terrible snarls of desperate fury, but she couldn't see.

They kept pouring the water, and it occurred to Samantha that this was a bullshit way to die.

She must have been on a huge rock, because suddenly the water stopped, the hands holding her down gave her a shove, and stone cut deep as she fell. The cold hard ground jarred her broken arm and she would have cried out at the pain as she was sent rolling, but she was too busy vomiting water from her lungs, gasping and choking as the towel fell from her face and left her able to see, but oddly enough out of only one eye. The other was swollen shut. She was in a large cave surrounded by a circle of men, the two who had taken her from the hotel room in the center and closest to her. There was something huge and red only a few feet from her, something that was straining to get to her. It was Brady. Still choking, instinct pushed her his way, and even as Samantha stumbled for him, someone grabbed the matted mass that was her hair and dragged her back.

"Wrong way," a masculine voice chuckled as Samantha was hauled to her feet in front of the Calgary Alpha. Chitakido was seated on the dry end of the rock in the middle of the cave, and he was playing with a knife. It was big and nasty, and it was one of those kinds that went in smooth and came out much differently. The man holding Samantha was massive, nearly as big as Jake, although his tanned skin was nearly black from the tattooing that covered it. He was nearly as tattooed as the Alpha, who was smiling at her pleasantly. He pointed his knife at the slitted opening on the far side of the cave, the only source of light into the darkness. Behind her was another way out, but it was even darker, and tilted downwards.

"The exit's that way," Chitakido said helpfully. "Although I've got to be honest, it's a bitch finding your way out."

But Samantha wasn't looking at the exit. She was staring in sickened horror at the wolf in the corner, where they had bound Brady with chains thicker than the Alpha's arms, several loops wrapped around Brady's neck and run through a huge industrial sized ring that had been buried in the rock beneath him. It shouldn't have been enough to hold him, but despite his fur blocking out the worst of his wounds, Brady looked like a dog who had been hit by a car. He was laid out on his belly, unable to move his head more than a few inches, and his body was trembling violently. But he was still trying to get to her, his shaking limbs scrabbling at the stone as he tried to strain against the chains, so much that he was choking himself. There was a steady drip of blood from his throat as the chains cut into his skin, something else that shouldn't have been happening. Those weren't normal chains.

"What did you do to him?" Samantha demanded, although her voice was rough and sore. Apparently she wasn't supposed to talk, because that earned her legs behind kicked out from beneath her and she fell, smacking her head against the ground as she did. A huge foot came down across her rib cage, and Samantha cried out when the Beta pushed down enough to make one snap. Brady was snarling again, but panicked and desperate sounding.

"What did I do to him?" Chitakido murmured thoughtfully, picking his fingernails clean with the knife tip. "Well, funny you should ask, Samantha. May I call you Samantha? I know it's a little informal, we did just meet. You see, Samantha, my Pack is more…how should we say this…military-esque. Most of us actually have done stints in the special forces, and as your Pack already knows, we hire ourselves out as mercenaries and other such stuff. Mostly offshore, but sometimes locally, because hey, what's the point of living forever if you don't get to have a little fun in the process? That kind of training teaches you things, things we here in the Calgary Pack have put to practice."

The Alpha gave Brady a fond look, his eyes gleaming in the partial darkness as he stared at the struggling wolf. "For instance, did you know that a wolf of your Packmate's stamina can be beaten within an inch of his life at least four times a day without major repercussions? Of course that level of pain makes it nearly impossible for even a wolf of greater dominance to be able to keep from being phased. And did you know that if you increase those beatings to six times a day, the wolf are much easier to restrain? Eight times a day will kill them after a few days, but we've never tried nine. Brady? How's nine been working out for you so far?"

"Fuck you," Samantha hissed out, then screamed when the foot she couldn't dislodge off of her broke another rib. Chitakido grinned at his Beta.

"She's got spirit, doesn't she? We might be able to drag this out longer than I had thought." The Alpha moved gracefully, coming to crouch on the ground next to her and running a fingertip across her shattered cheekbone. "Tell me, Samantha, can you feel your Alpha? Is he scared right now?"

Actually Jake was in the back of her soul, a massive sea of power and fury that was headed this way, but there was no way she was telling him that.

"Probably not," he murmured. "Your Alpha is stupidly overconfident in his abilities, and he's not actually running to the rescue, the way he thinks he is. What's the fun in this if he's able to find us just by tracking you down through the bond? No, honey, I think you're all alone with the big bad wolves right now, but don't worry." Chitakido turned her head, forcing her to look at Brady, who was whining so fast it sounded like he was hyperventilating. "Don't worry, you're not as alone as you think. You see, they can still see you, and right now, they can hear everything we say and do. Congratulations, Samantha, you're on Candid Camera, the Calgary version."

She opened her mouth to speak, but she caught Brady's eyes, and it occurred to her that Embry was there behind those eyes, seeing this and not being able to do a damn thing. It was then that Samantha realized just how much trouble she was really in.

Chitakido leaned down and sniffed her neck, now crusted with dried blood, and he sighed. "Such a shame," he murmured. "I had such a good plan too, and in that one you would have survived, at least until I killed your Alpha." He leaned in closer and whispered in her ear, "How about we make a deal? I'll let you go, right now, and no one will follow. You can run right back to your Alpha and your lover and we can call it good. This red wolf's more than plenty in recompense for my woman. What do you say, honey? We'll kill Brady now and cancel the program."

"Fuck you," she whispered, but this time there were tears in Samantha's eyes. "Let him go."

"Instead of you?" Chitakido asked curiously, and even though she was crying, she was nodding. One of Brady's nails broke off into the limestone as he tried, tried so very hard to get to the girl being hurt by an Alpha and a Beta, and his whine was almost a crying sound at this point. "Ahh. How noble of you, but he has to stay. You would choose to stay with him? Even if it meant your life?"

"You're going to kill me anyways," Samantha managed to get out, and Chitakido laughed before lifting up her mass of hair and severing it cleanly with his knife.

"True. I am going to do that," Chitakido agreed with a smile. He sniffed her hair and then passed it over to his Beta, whose face stayed expressionless as he wrapped it up and tucked it into his back pocket. A deep chill went through Samantha, her fear suddenly spiking nearly out of control, and for a moment she thought she felt Jake's response. Somewhere a wolf was planning on tearing the world apart to find her, and it gave her courage she didn't have. Brady's eyes had rolled so that the whites were showing, and she forced herself to look at Chitakido even as she fought her fear.

The Alpha's mouth over hers was the lightest caress, and he smiled against her lips. "Don't worry," he promised gently. "You won't die yet, we've just gotten started. But you should close your eyes, it will help." And then the Alpha was ambling back towards the rock, whistling as he twirled his knife in his hand. The Beta looked down at her, and for the first time his eyes flashed in emotion.

It wasn't regret.

* * *

Paul had known it was coming, but when Brady came awake in their minds, the depth of the kid's emotions nearly leveled them. Brady was terrified and furious in equal amounts, his pain at such an intensity that even Jake was having a hard time getting through to him. He was restrained, struggling, his vision blurry and not letting them see anything. However Jake had locked onto Brady's location immediately and they were off the ground and running, Collin sandwiched between Jake's right shoulder and Paul's left, and Jack between Jake's left shoulder and Embry's right. Jake wanted Seth to take control of the Pack because he had a bad feeling about…

Brady's eyes focused enough for them to see Sims get hauled over a rock, but what happened next sent Brady into such an utter frenzy that Paul couldn't make out what had happened. He only knew that the pup was going nuts, and that if Jake didn't control his imprint induced fury that none of them would be able to stand anymore, forget running.

Jake thought Samantha was dying. They were killing his imprint, _they were killing his imprint_, _**they were killing his imprint**_…

Paul thought that Jake needed to get ahold of himself, because the Alpha was crashing into trees and simply taking the vegetation out with flashing teeth and terrible snarls. Jake didn't hear him, and as Collin flattened and tried to get away from Jake, Paul took a risk and shouldered Collin aside. The Third darted beneath the pup's neck and came up under Jake, taking the Alpha's legs out from under him and sending them both tumbling to the ground. It snapped Jake back to them but the furious Alpha turned on Paul. Embry shoved Jake hard enough that his teeth just missed Paul's muzzle, and Embry and his wolf reminded the Alpha with a snarl that it was _their_ mate being hurt. Get it the fuck together, so they could save her.

They weren't killing Jake's imprint, but they were torturing her. And then Brady's mess of a head came back through, loud and clear as the kid started simultaneously cursing and crying as he fought to get to her. Only a couple words made it through, a couple images, enough to send Embry back to running in a sheer panic and Jake catching up with him in three strides. Collin was falling off the pace because Brady in his head was too much for him, Jack was thinking nothing, nothing, nothing…They were losing control of this, Seth was struggling to keep himself and Leah contained, and Paul was stuck figuring out this shit himself.

Honestly, Paul wasn't cut out for this kind of thing.

Paul didn't know what was best, so he just started issuing orders, because as a Pack, they did better with orders to keep them calm. Paul needed Jack to stay with Collin, keep them on the pace but a hundred meters back. As the two wolves melted back, Paul stretched out and caught up to Embry, no easy feat. Embry needed to slow down. When the other wolf ignored him, Paul slashed his shoulder down to the bone, a small bite but a painful one. Embry wheeled on Paul, but Paul ducked and Embry's momentum took him into Jake. The Alpha was struggling with everything he had to comfort the pup and simultaneously block Brady from the Pack and still try to reach Sims through the imprint bond, and really didn't appreciate Embry and Paul breaking his fucking concentration. Embry quickly backed off, and matched his strides to Paul's. That was better.

The Third would lead the Pack and try his best with Brady, if the Alpha would tell him where to go. That way Jake could focus solely on Sims. The Alpha pushed this half of the Pack Paul's way instantly, forgetting in his distraction that Paul wasn't Seth. Paul nearly stumbled beneath the weight of those wolves tied so much tighter to him than he had ever felt before. He could push them for more, he could slow them down, he could calm them, or drive them to a fury. He chose to calm them, no easy feat considering he was dealing with Embry and Jack and Brady, but Emb was getting a hold of himself, Jack was doing exactly as ordered, and Collin was running so close to Jack's side that the contact with the older wolf was calming him even more. So Paul focused on Brady.

_Brady couldn't get to her. Brady couldn't get to her. She was crying, but he couldn't get to her..._

Paul wanted Brady to stop trying to get to her.

_Brady couldn't get to her. Brady couldn't get to her. Brady couldn't-_

Paul wanted Brady to stop trying to get to her, and look around. Where were they?

_Brady couldn't…Brady couldn't… Brady…mother fucker, get the fuck __**off**__ of her!_

Brady! Calm down and help them help Sims and him get free. Where were they? Brady didn't know. Well, what could Brady see, what could he hear?

…_Her_. He could hear her. They were _hurting_ her...

It triggered another round of panic that took a while to get sort through, and Paul was starting to think that he wasn't ever going to get back to Brady, but then there was another voice, pushing past that wall that Paul had erected between his several wolves and Brady to protect their minds from his. It was a voice, low and soothing, telling Brady that everything was okay. That they were proud of him, and he was brave and strong, and not to wear himself out on things he couldn't change. Jared loved him, and the Pack did too, and Brady was okay. Where was he?

Jared?

You got it, kid, now where are you?

…In a cave.

Did he know how to get down to where he was at?

A sniffle, the pup was crying, but not for himself, he was crying because he had failed her, he had failed his Alpha, he had failed his Third. Jared didn't care about what had happened up until now, Jared only cared about now, only cared about them getting to Brady. Focus, kid. Did Brady know how to get down to where he and Sims were at? No, Brady didn't, he had woken up here. Brady had woken up here and they kept hurting him, something felt broken inside, more things were breaking now, inside of him and inside of her. Even if they left him free, Brady wasn't sure he could even get to her. He didn't know what to do. Paul? Please…what was he supposed to _do_?

Paul had a better hold of Brady now, forcing him to stay at that calmer level that Jared had triggered, a good thing and a bad thing, because they were holding Brady's head and making him watch. A calmer Brady gave clearer visuals. Paul wondered if there was ever a way they would make this up to her. Embry was going to kill that wolf, the one that had picked her up by her broken arm and tossed her into Brady, letting the pup try to roll so that he was over top of her to protect her. When they dragged her back away, Brady lost it again, so much so that neither Paul nor Jared could reach him, and Paul needed Jake. Seth quietly whispered that the Beta was boosting Jake, and between the two of them, they were barely keeping Sims together. They needed Paul, not the other way around.

Damn, Paul wasn't made for this shit.

Yes, he was, Collin decided in a soft, loyal voice. Collin would do whatever Paul needed, and Paul needed Collin to talk to Brady, because Jared had scented a wolf. A Calgary wolf. More Calgary wolves running through the reservation, not even bothering with him and Sam as they headed straight for…fuck they were going for _Leah_. Panic from his best friend slammed through the Pack bonds, startling and disrupting everyone. But there was nothing any of them here could do, they were going the opposite direct from home. Whatever happened back there, they had absolutely no control over. Shutting his half of the Pack away was the harshest thing Paul had ever done, but they couldn't be in two places at once. Paul trusted his Beta, and he trusted his Alpha. With Collin's choked whispers in his mind, Paul ran.

His first coherent thought in hours, Jack thought that they should probably run faster.

For the first time in centuries, a Pack listened to him.

* * *

It wasn't the first time Samantha had been surrounded like this by a Pack of wolves, but this Beta wasn't Seth, and this was about to go a whole lot differently.

They made Brady watch every second of it, even though half of them shifted miserably and even more couldn't bring themselves to watch. That was until their Alpha ordered it. Desensitizing, Chitakido called it. Beating up a little girl was what one of them was brave enough to say, shaking with fury and disgust. Chitakido killed him then went back to picking at his nails with the knife, pleased to kill two birds with one stone for his newest Pack members. This was a new Pack, one not bound by the old traditions that dictated behavior. The Old Ways had forgotten them and moved on, it was time they did the same. It was time to become as strong as they were meant to be.

An hour later, as even Jake's impressive attempts to take her pain into himself and the Calgary Beta's careful planning couldn't keep her conscious anymore, Samantha decided that if she survived this, she'd never let anyone hurt her ever again.

* * *

"This is bullshit, Seth!"

From his place cross legged on the ground, the Beta gave his sister a frustrated look. Leah was pacing outside of Sam's house, every once in a while kicking at Sam's neatly piled stacks of firewood. The she-wolf was fuming, so angry that she was nearly shaking, and if she had been younger, she would have phased by now.

"It's the order, Leels," Seth told her quietly, trying as hard as possible to keep his calm. Calm would help his Pack right now, not yelling and kicking things. Leah hadn't quite figured that out yet. "Jake needs us to listen and do what we're told, you throwing a fit won't help him help Brady or Sims."

"He's got half the Pack here," Leah snapped, even though she stopped pacing and dropped to her heels next to him. "We need to be _there_. Shit, this is just like Mexico all over again! He's out there without enough of us. Can't you find a way around the order?"

"I'm not going directly against my Alpha, Leah," Seth said firmly, "And neither should you. Now please, be quiet, I'm trying to help Jake."

"Help Jake do what, exactly?" she huffed, flopping down to her rear end. Seth didn't want to tell her. Leah was strong, so very strong, but there was a reason he wouldn't let her phase right now. Leah loved Sims, almost like a sister, and she didn't need to feel Sims' pain through Jake. Jake was throwing it all at Seth to protect the Pack from it, letting the Beta be the buffer he was supposed to be. Sometimes the Alpha was too much for the Pack, that was why there were Betas, so that Alphas could be as strong as they needed to be without crushing everyone else. Right now Jake was throwing his emotions at Seth, not the rest of the Pack, and focusing what was left on Sims so that he could try and give her strength. But they were hurting her, and it was hurting Jake, and even though they had known this would be bad, Seth would never have been ready for this. He had expected it, but that didn't make it any easier.

"Seth, what-" Her words cut off as a howl rang through the reservation, echoing off the trees and sinking into Seth's bones.

He had expected this too. His sister's eyes widened in shock as Sam's panicked howl joined Jared's. They knew what that howl meant, Packmate in danger, only there were only two of them left here right now. The smell of wolves reached his nose, three scents, four scents, five…

"Leah?" Seth said softly, standing up and facing the east. "Leah, _**run**_."

Leah had never ran from anything in her whole fucking life. She had literally never _had_ to run from anything. You see, it was pretty clear that the Calgary wolves streaking through the reservation weren't going for Sam or Jared, and that her Packmates didn't matter even as the two La Push wolves took off after the intruders. But Jared counted seven, no eight, wolves, and they were outnumbered two to one. Calgary was headed straight for her, and eight wolves were about to be on her little brother in a few seconds.

Leah had never run from anything in her whole life, but neither had Seth. He didn't believe in it, he believed in standing your ground and fighting for what mattered. So if he wanted her to run, then she probably was going to get someone killed if she didn't. Leah had phased and hit the ground before Seth had finished exhaling. Seth was only a hairbreadth slower than her, but as Leah was off like a shot, he didn't follow her. Instead he veered off to the right, his mind so closed off from her that she could barely tell that he was phased. In fact, Seth had blocked off Sam and Jared as well, leaving them all in silence.

Seth didn't want anyone to hear him, La Push or Calgary wolf alike. He was a sneaky bastard, her brother.

The dirt kicked up beneath her claws and Leah dug in and made a break for the border, heading towards Forks. She could feel them honing in on her, wanting to flank her and drive her northeast, and she suppressed the urge to stretch out her muscles and really show these assholes what a she-wolf could do. After all, outrunning the Calgary wolves was outrunning her Pack, too, and that was dangerous. If she was Seth, she would want to avoid a face to face fight when they were outnumbered. She might look like the prey, but Leah knew her brother's mind pretty well, and she knew she was actually the decoy. If they were running after her, they wouldn't be attacking her Packmates two on one. So Leah dodged and feinted, taking these wolves through the roughest terrain she could, knowing her Packmates knew it better.

A heavy tan wolf was faster than he looked and he slashed at her flank, trying to drive her over, and Leah fought down the urge to wheel on him. A yelp in the trees, a snarl that sounded very much like Sam. They were flanking her, but her Pack was flanking them, so Leah made herself slow down even more. It earned her getting sandwiched between the tan wolf and a grey one, although the tan one was smart enough to understand what she was doing. An order to his Pack that she felt more than heard, and the Calgary wolves swung around to take down her Packmates, now confidant that between the two of them that she was caught.

Stupid boys.

Leah didn't even have to slam on the brakes, she just lunged at the tan wolf, her razor sharp teeth sinking into his ear as she let her momentum take her up and over him, the wolf squealing and rolling so that he didn't lose an ear to her. Too late. There was blood in her mouth as they tumbled, and he was strong, but she was nimble and fast, and to be honest, she was itching to take this fight to them. The tan wolf was their leader, so she was on her feet and running again, trying to draw him out and away from his Pack, the grey wolf dogging at their heels. Losing his ear had made him angry. Good, angry wolves made mistakes. That was something that Sam had tried to beat into their heads for a really long time, and Leah might have an attitude, but she was her brother's sister, and she could keep her cool when necessary. Them trying to steal her aside, this was actually kind of fun.

Somewhere in her mind she felt Jake, his anger and his pain, pain because of his imprint, and Leah changed her mind. This wasn't fun. This was fucking _payback_.

The grey wolf was faster than he looked, and he and the tan one sandwiched her again, their larger bodies forcing her back in the direction they wanted her to go. They were trying to drive her away from her Pack and towards theirs, but Leah had no intention of joining a Pack whose Alpha was a sick bastard. Nope, she was staying right where she was. Still, she let them, snarling and snapping her jaws at them so they would think she was growing panicked. It made the grey one confident, cocky, and he slashed at her side in firm rebuke when she tried to change the angle of their run. Instead of jumping from his teeth, Leah threw herself into the wolf's attack, earning her a much deeper wound but making the grey wolf lose his balance and stumble, his momentum taking him outwards. He might have been a shape shifting wolf, but he was going much too fast to run headfirst into a tree that size, and with a yelp, the grey wolf was down. Leah exploded with a burst of speed, the tan wolf stretching long legs to keep up with her and leaving his Packmate behind.

Another mass of snarling quickly cut off behind them. Leah smirked in her head. And then there were two.

In another time and another place she might have enjoyed this run, a large strong male able to match her stride for stride. But this male was desperate, his thoughts darting back and forth between fear of her Pack and fear of his own, and Leah wondered what would happen to this wolf if he failed to bring her to his Alpha. It made her pity him, which was a mistake, because it earned her another slashing wound along her hip this time, and she yelped in pain. She didn't want to run anymore, she wanted to turn and _fight_, but Seth had said run, and he hadn't taken back the order. She had to trust him.

She had been shoved past Forks, was angling towards Seattle, was being driven towards Canada. Calgary had sent only a few of his wolves, but despite Jack killing so many, Chitakido had many many more. The closer they got to the Calgary Alpha…the closer…well, _no shit_. Seth really _was_ a sneaky bastard. There was more than one way to get around an order.

Feigning tiredness, Leah paced herself and let the lone tan wolf steal her away.

* * *

It hurt. Sweat slid down Samantha's skin, the effort of her maintaining proper form for this brand new kata was exhausting already tired muscles. She had already broken stance several times. Embry was sitting at his desk, scribbling something down in one of his record books, probably about her. He always kept notes on his students, what they excelled at and what they struggled with, that way he could better plan their next workouts to be most effective. It showed exactly how much every single one of his students mattered to him. Samantha shifted stances, wondering what it would feel like to have herself matter to him.

She wanted him. He was handsome and sweet and when he looked at her with those amazing eyes, his gaze lingering when he thought she didn't know he was watching, it made her want to feel his hands linger on her the same way.

She wanted him, the way she had never wanted someone before, she wanted him so much it was embarrassing. At least she was pretty sure he couldn't tell how much he made her heart pound when he wasn't even trying. Like now. Damn, he was beautiful. As if he had heard her thoughts, Embry glanced up at her, tilting his head to the side. He watched her as she watched him, and it was as if something settled in between them, making her want to break her stance and step forward, towards him. Embry turned and leaned forward in his chair, elbows on his knees, everything he was completely focused on her. He wanted her too, and even though they had only just met, she could see it in his eyes. For a moment, Samantha knew exactly who she was and where she belonged.

Then she stumbled, and then blushed as she regained her balance, and Embry's handsome face had reddened in embarrassment because it was obvious that they both were staring. But he was still looking at her, regardless, his eyes filled with something she didn't understand. She wanted him over here, maybe she would stop stumbling if his hands were guiding her, or maybe she just wanted to smell that wonderful earthy scent that was Embry, because it always made everything seem so much simpler. Hell, she had just met him, but she still wanted him over here with her.

Samantha blinked with surprise when he gave her a sexy smile and stood up, walking her way. She shivered when he stepped behind her, Embry's arms angled along her own, guiding her hands through the motions of the kata, his breath on her neck as she smiled in return. If she could pick anyone, anywhere, it would be someone like him. Funny, as he breathed in the scent of her hair, Embry was thinking the same thing about her. Her choice. His dream. Alone in an empty dojo, their first and best dance. It was possible she had fallen in love with him back then and didn't even know it.

She was crying now, god it hurt so _bad_, but she wouldn't take back a second of what had brought her here. Jake was somewhere, somewhere close, but he couldn't get to her, and he hurt too. He hurt because she hurt, and it was only getting worse for both of them. Chitakido closed his eyes and settled down for a nap against their rock. Something inside Samantha crawled.

* * *

Paul had liked history in school, but he had never been that good with geography. He knew that the Rocky Mountains stretched into Canada, and he knew that there were more than one national park built into that mountain range, but he had never paid attention to what or where. Maybe if he had been paying a little more attention in school he would have known that Banff National Park lay a mere hundred miles to the west of Calgary, and that within the park rested Canada's longest cave system, the Castleguard Cave. It was deep, nearly four hundred meters, but it was nearly fifty times that in length. Remote and dangerous to explore, it was still a horrible hiding spot for a Pack of wolves, because the cave was very straight, with few off-shoots caverns found by humans.

Key word _humans_. The Calgary wolves had found more a very long time ago.

The Castleguard Cave was impressive, but beneath it, vast and unexplored by most was a spider web of passages, some impassable without nearly superhuman dexterity and strength. And while Jake was able to track his imprint straight to Castleguard, his Packmates running by his side, once in the cave, they couldn't find her or Brady. The Calgary Pack's scent was all over the cave, Sims and Brady's as well, as if the Pack had taken their time to make the entire cave system smell the same. Paul knew Brady was here, somewhere, and Jake knew that Sims was down there, right there, exactly, but he had no clue how to get to her.

Collin suggested that they just start digging, after all if their claws and teeth could grind leeches, they could grind through limestone. Embry was pretty sure that if Collin caused a cave in on his girlfriend, that Embry was eating moronic pup for dinner tonight. Hurt, Collin dropped to his belly, and Paul growled at Embry. The kid was doing his best, Embry needed to back off of him. Collin was hurt and was still there, and Collin's best friend was down there.

Yeah well, so was Embry's.

Enough, the Alpha needed to think. There had to be another way into these caves, a whole Pack didn't just disappear. Jack slowly crept along the rocks, snuffing deeply, his brindled body taught with tension. Jake didn't blame him, but Jack blamed himself. Jack would find her, he would kill this Alpha for his own, he would make amends for his failure. Jake snuffed in frustration and barely restrained annoyance. How about Jack just help Jake find their Packmates, and leave the rest up to Jake? Jake was Alpha, Paul was Third, Jack had followed the Third's orders, and what was done was done. If there was any guilt or blame it was Jake's, not Paul's, certainly not Jack's. We need you, brother, so help us.

Jack didn't think the entrance to the rest of the caves was in here. He thought it was somewhere out there.

The Alpha didn't like that. If Jack was wrong, they would lose time, and Samantha was…The Alpha trembled as his carefully thrust aside emotions bubbled up. She didn't have a lot of time, neither did Brady. Was Jack sure?

Jack was…yes. Jack was sure.

How did he know?

Because his Alpha was telling him so.

His Alpha? Jake?

…No. His last Alpha.

Four small words but they blew Paul's mind. Even Jake seemed shocked, but he quickly composed himself. Jake had learned the hard way what not listening to his oldest wolf's instincts were telling him. And right now Jake would take help from the damn tooth fairy if it got him his imprint and his wolf back safe. They would search outside, and they would do it smartly. Calgary was a bastard, and Jake didn't put it past him to have wolves out here lying in wait for them. So they slipped outside, Jake and Collin and Jack spreading out and sniffing for any lingering scents of Brady or Sims, and Paul prowled between them, guarding them warily. The smell of Calgary was everywhere here, but also the heady scent of spring wildflowers filled Paul's nostrils, making him want to sneeze.

The Calgary Alpha had told Collin and Brady that it was a bad idea to pick a room by a chlorinated pool on a windy day, and that was how he had been able to sneak up on them so easily. Collin wondered if these flowers were doing the same thing, covering the scents of their Packmates.

Leah though it was funny that Collin finally had his first smart thought of his life. Someone needed to mark down the calendar and bake him a cake.

Paul snapped around, jumping up on top of a nearby rock and sniffing the wind deeply. Yes, that was Leah, so close she was within thought and smelling distance. What the _hell_? A tremor of fear went through Paul's body, had Seth and the others failed? Paul had been blocking the Pack to separate themselves from that side, but he had felt smugness coming through the Pack bonds from Seth and had assumed that everything had turned out fine. Jake had wanted Leah back home and _safe_. What the hell was Leah doing _here_?

Asshole back there is chasing me, she replied brightly. Gosh, I'm pretty scared, I better keep running. Maybe you guys can help me, I'll run thataways towards you.

_**SETH!**_

A wince from another wolf as Jake's roar resounded through their heads. Silence then, Seth's cheerful voice. Yeah boss? Seth, what the _fuck_ is she doing here? More silence, then, Seth's cheerful voice again. Ummm, well…I think Leels is being chased? But don't worry, I'm chasing the guy chasing her. And all the other wolves that were chasing her are all now properly chastised and the property of one very pleased Rosalie Hale. Give a leech a puppy and she wants seven. Chicks, huh?

You disobey me, _now_? Jake was on edge, his imprint was being hurt, and his temper was only barely being reined in. _Now_, _Seth_?

Technically, I'm protecting my sister, Seth replied, just a touch smugly. It's not my fault the chase took us this way. But since it did, Leels and I would like an opportunity to protect _our_ sister. We've claimed her, by the way. Don't blame me, Leels just kind of took off at a run. She-wolves, they're so flighty. Thank goodness the rest of them were dudes, one she-wolf in this Pack was enough.

Jake couldn't waste any more time on this, but since they had a Calgary wolf, Seth better bring that fucker right here right now.

Leah could do it. After all, even though Jake was an asshole that left her, _again_, she was a loyal wolf to her Alpha. Leah just wished this guy was in a little better shape, he'd been huffing and puffing like a stuck pig for the last half hour, and it was annoying. Seth was pretty sure the phrase was huffing and puffing like a choo choo train, and squealing like a stuck pig. Yeah well, leave it Seth to know the ins and outs of choo choo's. Hey! Enough with the kid jokes! He was the Beta, dammit, not to mention the man of their house, and it wouldn't kill Leah to show him a little respect. But now that she mentioned it, this guy was pretty tried. Maybe being part of an evil Pack made one prone to fat laziness.

The tan wolf couldn't hear exactly what the La Push Pack was saying and his ruined ear hurt badly, but he had been pleased with himself for having done what his Alpha had ordered, with or without the help of the others. He had taken the she-wolf, and his Alpha would be satisfied. The tan wolf's smugness began fading as he got the feeling that the La Push female was laughing at him.

His smug feeling faded away completely when the she-wolf suddenly slammed on the brakes, her slender body darting in front of his so that his momentum took him into her, her flattened form sweeping his legs directly out from under him. He snarled horribly even as he tumbled, and before he could rise back to his feet, a sandy colored wolf was on him, jaws clamped down on his throat hard enough that the sandy wolf could taste blood. The tan wolf started to fight, but the La Push wolf's jaws closed together enough that he had no choice but to go limp. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the she-wolf staring at him smugly.

All joking aside, Seth didn't appreciate anyone trying to take his sister, and he really didn't appreciate anyone attacking his Pack the way Calgary had. Seth hadn't killed the ones left in La Push because his instincts told him it was wrong, but he had no sympathy for these wolves. In fact he felt quite the opposite. Maybe when Sims and Brady were safe and sound, Seth would feel differently, but at the moment he was greatly displeased. The tan wolf was going with them, and he was going quietly, or Seth was going to feel free to express that displeasure. Seth had very sharp teeth, and this one was going to lose his other ear first. The Calgary wolf cringed and went limp. Taking that wolf at that point was almost too easy for Seth, and he was disgusted as the tan wolf fell in after him and Leah meekly, not even fighting to free itself. Apparently these wolves were so beaten down that they didn't try to fight the control, not anymore.

Paul felt that said more about Calgary's Alpha than it did their Pack, but he didn't have time to linger on that.

As the three closed in on their position, Paul realized that they were in trouble. From the tan wolf, Calgary now knew for a fact that they were there, and it was possible that these hill were about to come alive with wolves. However they were at an advantage now as well and could force this wolf to take them were they needed to go. Seth and Leah's disobeying Jake might have made the difference in saving Sims and Brady, but it also might have been their death sentence. So Paul crouched on his rock, sniffing for all he was worth, ready to fight and die for his Pack. He missed his imprint, but thank god she wasn't here.

Paul had lost his grip on Brady, the pup's pain and fear was so strong that Paul hadn't been able to contain it any longer. Just as Jake was pushing his own feelings into Seth, Paul took Brady's feelings into himself. Each time the struck Brady's flesh, Paul felt it. Each time Brady tried and failed again to get to Sims, Paul failed with him. Every time they made him watch, Paul watched with him, even though the pup's panic made everything blurry. Paul stayed with Brady through it all, listening as Collin tried to tell Brady how strong he was, how they all believed in him. Jared's love wrapped around Brady, trying to hold him to them, and the soft echoes of that love from the rest of the Pack washed over the pup continually.

Paul didn't know if it was making a bit of difference, because Brady only knew what was in front of him. Jake tried to give what he could, but Calgary knew exactly what he was doing. If Jake had cut himself off from Sims, the way Paul now was with Cassie, maybe it would have been easier. But Jake had opened the imprint bond up all the way, trying to reach out to Sims with everything he had, and there was no way to shelter himself from her emotions like that. If a tire iron to an arm had hurt his body and his soul, breaking the rest of her was destroying Jake. Paul thought about Cassie, deep in the recesses of his mind, and decided that it was for the best. He was less than half of himself like this, his whole body feeling like it was in withdrawal from the loss of her along the imprint bond, but it was better. He never wanted her to feel what Jake was feeling.

Jake wanted that Calgary wolf here now, because they needed to get down there. Now. _Now_. _**Now**_. The Alpha was started to tear at the ground itself in frustration, shredding flowers that only added more pollen to the air. He was losing his cool, losing his mind, because Sims was losing hers.

Oh _hell_. They had to get down there _fast_.

Seth was running the exhausted tan wolf as hard as he could, the wolf who knew how to get in but had to show them, because every rocky crag here looked so much the same as the next. And then it didn't matter, because Embry had caught the faintest scent, so carefully covered by the Calgary wolves, but he would know his mate's smell anywhere. Without waiting, Embry darted into the caves, this entrance so tight he had to phase human to slip through.

The Calgary wolves lying in wait attacked.

* * *

Samantha stumbled and blushed as she regained her balance, and Embry's handsome face had reddened in embarrassment because it was obvious that they both were staring. But he was still looking at her, regardless, his eyes filled with something she didn't understand. She wanted him over here, maybe she would stop stumbling if his hands were guiding her, or maybe she just wanted to smell that wonderful earthy scent that was Embry, because it always made everything seem so much simpler. Hell, she had just met him, but she still wanted him over here with her.

Samantha blinked with surprise when he gave her a sexy smile and stood up, walking her way. Embry's arms angled along her own, guiding her hands through the motions of the kata, his breath on her neck as she smiled in return. If she could pick anyone, anywhere, it would be someone like him. Funny, as he breathed in the scent of her hair, Embry was thinking the same thing about her. Her choice. His dream. Alone in an empty dojo, their first and best dance. It was possible she had fallen in love with him back then and didn't even know it.

She was still crying, god it hurt so _bad_, but she wouldn't take back a second of what had brought her here. Jake was literally right _there_, but he couldn't find her, and he was panicking. They had taken something sharp, something bone white and beautifully delicate, and scratched her with it. Just a drop, not enough to kill her, they said. Humans could handle a little, just a little without changing, but it wasn't pretty. The wolf was a roar in her mind, or maybe it was the broken wolf that had been released to amuse the Beta, the one that had crawled over top of her, trying to use the last of his strength to block her body from them with his own. Someone was screaming, because no matter how she tried, she couldn't stop. Embry's dream was dying, and just like last time, she hadn't even gotten to say goodbye.

Something curled below the flesh had just about had enough.

* * *

Embry darted into the cave, his wolf's instincts making him duck just in time to avoid the snapping jaws that nearly took their head off. He twisted away from a body trying to slam into him, and the young wolf crouched in place, locking eyes with the Calgary wolves. There were two of them guarding the entrance, older than him but still young looking, and he probably could have taken them down if he phased and fought, but instead Embry turned and ran, plunging headfirst into the caves. He could hear his Packmates as they came after him, Jake's horrible snarling and Paul's bellow as the Third showed just why he was the Third now, instead of being ranked fourth like Embry. Paul was a cut above what Embry would ever be, Embry knew this deep down inside, but he didn't care. All he cared about was that he had the speed and the nose and that he could find his girl. He _had_ to find her before it was too late.

It was funny, maybe he should be panicking now or losing his hard won control, but instead he was just quietly furious. They had taken his mate, and he was going to get her back. And then he was going to get her to a hospital as fast as he could fucking run, and pray that after this was over she would ever consent to look at him again. For three days he had let her out of his sight, his protection, and he knew better. She was their Alpha's imprint, and they were supposed to guard her better than this. They were supposed to have guarded Brady better than this. Hell they should have guarded Paul better than this.

Jake had ordered them to not blame themselves or each other. This was Jake's fault, through and through. Right now Embry only cared about fixing it, to hell with whose fault it was.

The caves were a maze, and the Calgary wolves had done their homework. They had dragged her and Brady through every single nook and cranny, and in following her scent, all Embry was doing was running in circles. Running in dangerous circles. Dammit, he couldn't _find_ her. Forcing himself to a calmness that wasn't real, Embry spun on his heel and went running back for his Pack.

No, she and Brady weren't down there. Collin couldn't find them down this way either. Paul was frustrated, it was like a fucking rabbit's warren down here. How the hell were they supposed to find her? Had Jack been down here before? No, Jack had stayed out of the Canadian wilderness for the last two hundred years, he and Tupkuk would have killed each other. Tupkuk hated killing, hated Jack for being a murderer, and in respect for his old Packmate, Jack had stayed away. What about before that? Before that…Jack didn't know. He was sorry, sorry, so very sorry.

Enough, Jack. Jake had to find her, had to find her quickly. Where the _hell_ was Seth and that wolf?

Here, Seth was here, and he was shoving the Calgary wolf in front of him. The man was covered in tattooing, enough that Collin winced and looked away. Jake needed to find Samantha, where the hell was she? His rage was so heavy it pushed at them all, and Embry staggered back. In the recesses of his mind he wondered at his own audacity, when he had told his brother that he would fight to keep his mate. Embry couldn't fight Jake. Jake was…Jake was losing it, shaking in such a terrible fury. The Calgary wolf dropped to his knees before their Alpha, but despite Seth putting pressure on him, it was obvious that the wolf's own Alpha was taking him back. The tattooed man made a frightened noise of apology as Jake snatched him up by the throat, and Embry stepped back from it. Paul however stepped forward, asking Jake not to do this, not to kill someone who had no choice in the matter. Seth had pushed Leah's back to the wall and he was in front of her, snarling from his human throat.

Embry turned to see what Seth had seen. Something was coming.

* * *

Samantha blinked with surprise when…. If she could pick anyone, anywhere, it would be someone like…Her choice. His dream. Alone in an empty dojo, their first…It was possible she had…in love…didn't even know…

The Alpha was done napping, his wayward Third had managed to deliver them the La Push female, and since their enemy had found the way this far, they all might as well go and play with the other Pack. Someone stay and finish off the red wolf, he was getting annoying, and he was so far gone that La Push wouldn't be able to understand anything through his head anymore anyways.

She was screaming, and she was shaking, rapid violent shaking because they were killing her Packmate. Please stop. _Please stop_. Please, please, they had to _stop_…

* * *

The Alpha was done hurting Jake, he was coming in for the kill, and he was bringing the Beta with him. There were more wolves, but Embry only saw that one, the Beta. Embry and his wolf were going to kill _that_ one.

A rush of wolves, a shield of flesh and fur between the Calgary Alpha and the La Push Alpha. This was going to a blood bath. Jacob Black saw this, saw this all and felt something important change inside of him. He was tired of the killing, he was tired of this Alpha, and Jacob might not deserve his Pack, but this fucker sure as hell didn't deserve one either. Jacob Black, the _only_ Alpha here decided that he was going to take those wolves back. So he did. And then he stepped up to a stunned Chitakido and grabbed him by the throat.

Enough was enough.

* * *

It wasn't supposed to happen. Not this one. Not ever.

But then again, sometimes enough is enough.

* * *

His fist and her jaws, a single crunch and it was done.

* * *

There was blood in her mouth. Samantha spat it out, for some reason unsure if it was her own. She was in a cave, in the darkness, and she was alone. No, she wasn't alone, because Brady was still there. Brady. Oh hell, _Brady_. Brady, they were going to kill him. That was the last thing she remembered. So much was so damn fuzzy…

Samantha staggered to her feet, stumbling sideways and bracing her left arm against the smooth limestone wall. Leaning heavily she lurched forward a couple feet, where two men lay motionless on the floor. One had tattoos covering both arms, his left a swirling of life scenes, sunrises and sunsets, a cliff overlooking the water, a child running along the sand. His other arm was a swirling of death, of destruction, of hurt. She wondered which of these this man was when left to be his own. She wondered who half decapitated him by biting through the back of his neck.

It must have been Brady, but Brady wasn't moving, not at all, and Samantha half fell on top of him. Everything hurt, so very badly. Her ribs hurt, her arm hurt, her back hurt. There was dried blood in her eyes, and her limbs were shaking badly. They had scratched her with something. Vampire venom, the…the…that _one_ had said. The one that scratched her and continued on with his treatment of her. Samantha shoved that sideways, because fuck him, she was still here, she wasn't dead, and Brady was breathing so he wasn't dead either. He just wasn't conscious.

"Brady," Samantha whispered, looking at the opening in front of them, where the other Calgary wolves had disappeared to. She heard something, it sounded like a bellowing animal, and she shivered before grabbing his arm and trying to shake it. "Brady, please wake up, we need to get out of here."

Her voice made him stir, and the young wolf hissed in pain even before his eyes opened. He let out a low groan, and then curled up around himself, passing back out. Samantha didn't know what to do, she was pretty sure that she was in shock, because she could see the wounds on her arms and legs, her belly and thighs, but she couldn't feel them. Maybe it was the venom, because she was still shaking, shaking badly, shaking fast. Another sound, this time snarling and louder and Samantha nearly whined in her throat. They were coming back. They were coming back…

She tried to get Brady's arm over her shoulder, but he was heavy. Not as heavy as she remembered Embry being, but heavy enough that when she tried to haul him up to his feet, she fell back to her knees and she dropped them. Pain rolled through her body, crawled up and down rapidly trembling limbs, but she forced it aside. They had to…they had to get out of here. Another try and she fell again, cursing.

"Brady!" she hissed as loudly as she dared as she put her mouth near his ear. "Brady, please, I need you to help me. I can't carry you like this, you're too heavy."

His dark brown eyes fluttered open, and Brady shifted again, a lower note of pain in his voice, but he managed to stay conscious this time. His eyes swept over her almost fearfully, but as they travelled down, the young wolf left out a soft snarl. Samantha didn't understand at first, and then she realized. She was naked. She was naked and covered in blood and she didn't really remember any of it happening. She knew what that probably meant, but she didn't remember having been hurt like that. Her entire body ached so badly it was impossible to tell, but she was sure that she hadn't been hurt like that. She just didn't know what had happened to her clothes, shoes included.

It didn't matter, all that mattered now was getting them both out of here. Brady must have realized the same thing, because he reached for her, and this time it was Brady staggering to his feet, her arm around his neck as he stumbled towards the front of the cave. Samantha didn't want to go that way, there were wolves that way. She could smell the blood and the fear out there, she didn't want to go that way.

"Jake's that way, Sims," Brady managed to whisper, his tongue thick from biting it repeatedly. "We need to get to Jake, and we'll be okay."

Jacob. Normally Samantha wanted Embry, he was best for any and all things, but right now standing next to the strongest wolf in the Pack was probably the safest place to be. Samantha was really okay with 'safe' right now. She remembered vaguely that Jacob had been with her, that this man she knew nothing of and who knew nothing of her had hurt right along with her. And only in the end had she slipped out of his grasp. Samantha had no idea how any of this worked, but for the first time she tried to reach out for her wolf. What she touched was like sticking her hand in an atomic bomb that had already exploded, and the weight of that explosion had latched on to her again, was headed her way. Jacob Black was coming for her.

For not the first time, Samantha was tempted to flee the other direction. Jacob Black frightened her, not because of anything that he had done to her, but because something inside her understood something inside him, something huge, something terribly powerful, something that could swallow them all up without him even realizing it. Jacob Black was strong now, but what he had the potential of becoming…

He wasn't yet, though, and Samantha would rather have him on her side than any other. Brady was leaning so hard on her that she didn't know how she wasn't falling, but she was leaning into him equally hard. They were beaten but not broken, and together they staggered and stumbled down into the darkness. Brady fell twice trying to help her squeeze up a narrow passageway, and she could barely hold on to his arm any longer by the time the injured wolf had hauled himself up after her. Jacob was closer, his presence so massive that it could be felt from the other side of the stone walls, but Samantha hoped Jacob wasn't stupid enough to start tearing through the earth. She hadn't survived…you know…when he…

_Fuck_.

She hadn't survived this far just to have a bunch of teenage boys drop a mountain on top of her head. Samantha turned to tell Brady that, but he was bent over at the waist, hacking. Hacking crimson. Oh shit, he was throwing up blood.

"Brady?" Samantha asked in fear as she tried to get to his side, pulling his head to her chest and supporting his heaving shoulders. He had gone pure white and was falling into her, and her normally strong arms couldn't keep him up. "Brady?" she whispered, her voice coming out small and frightened. "Please, please don't do this…Brady, you're okay. You're okay. We just have to find Jacob, and we're okay."

He tried to say something, but instead he kept coughing, and Samantha started crying. She didn't want to, and it didn't stop her from moving, from wrapping her arms around his waist and fighting one last time to her feet. Brady staggered, and Samantha fought to hold him upright. He was just too much dead weight, and the adrenaline that had pushed her this far, the fear, wasn't enough anymore to keep her own body from succumbing to the pain. Samantha screamed in frustration when she couldn't keep them both upright, and Brady's eyes rolled back as they both tumbled back to the floor.

She was crying, but suddenly she was angry. So furiously angry, not at Brady, but at the world. Fuck this place. _Fuck it_. She was getting them out of here. She was shaking again, shaking hard, but it gave her strength and Samantha wrapped her arms around Brady and tried to pull them along the ground. She made it five feet before Brady fought his way back to consciousness, and then he was pulling her, trying with the last of what he had to get them to their Pack.

If asked later, Brady wouldn't remember much of that journey. Hell, he and Samantha only made it about a hundred meters from the cave they had been…where they…_that_ place, before their Alpha found them. Samantha however would remember every second of it, especially the part where she gave out, her muscles cramping locking up traitorously, her biting down on her screams because it hurt so, so _bad_. And Brady still, somehow, got them out. He couldn't walk, but fuck it, he still crawled, dragging her out of this hellhole. He still got her into Jacob's arms before he collapsed sobbing into Seth's.

And if Samantha never looked at Brady the same way again, well, the young man had earned it.

* * *

Jacob Black wasn't that interested in military strategy, and didn't exactly know the right terms. However if asked, he would describe this entire day as a cluster fuck. Yeah, that sounded about right.

The problem with having killed another Alpha is that you are instantly passed over their Pack. In the time before Chitakido's neck had met Jacob Black's fist, the older Alpha had amassed through fear and intimidation, sheer strength of numbers and the occasional promise of power, a massive Pack. Jack had killed off approximately a third of them, and but the numbers left, added to Jake's own Pack, was enough to make his head spin.

Jake was now the proud owner of a Pack of wolves nearly forty strong.

Despite the fact that they were held by force, not love, it still bolstered him to the point he was almost quivering from the experience. On some level, Jake could understand why Chitakido had wanted to hold as many wolves as he could, because without them to boost him, the dead Alpha had been no stronger than Sam was now. Jake didn't want this many wolves, didn't think he was ready for this yet, was afraid of the fact that on some level he enjoyed this power. But Jake was a man, not a monster, and he knew that this was wrong for him. One day, maybe, but not now. The problem was, he couldn't really let them go. After all, these guys had stood by and watched his imprint and his wolf get tortured, and not all of them had minded. There were some good wolves in there, wolves so traumatized by being under Chitakido's rule that they flattened themselves every time Jake looked their way. But there were some really bad ones too, ones that Jake couldn't conscientiously leave at his back.

The good thing about it was that there were two doctors and one trained EMT in the group, and all three were hovering over Samantha and Brady as if their lives depended on it. From the way Embry and Paul had been standing behind them, faces equally stern and unyielding, the Calgary wolves probably felt that it did. Brady was broken, deep internal damage had been done, and they could only wait and see if he toughed it out. They had made him as comfortable as possible, and Collin had positioned himself as Brady's human pillow, holding his friend and telling him dirty jokes to try to distract Brady from the pain. They couldn't move him without making things worse, so Jake had ordered a camp to be set up outside Castleguard. He wanted Brady out of the weather, but he wanted his imprint out of this goddamn cave.

Samantha had looked like hell when Jake had finally turned the right corner and found her, stripped naked and covered in fresh and dried blood, some her own, some Brady's. She had been cut up pretty bad, beaten worse, and had a couple broken ribs. But what the older of the two wolf doctors said was the biggest problem was the leech venom. Jake had been nearly sick when he had heard about that. That bastard could have killed her with that shit. It would take several days to work out of her system, and even though it was a small enough amount to not turn her, it was going to cause her more problems before it was done. The muscle cramping would be alleviated somewhat with heat, but she was going to get sick as a dog here in a few hours, and she was dehydrated. Embry wanted to take her to the hospital, but they exchanged worried looks and shook their heads. It didn't matter if someone was already dying, but mixing leech venom with modern medicine could get really ugly really fast. But they would do as the Alpha told them.

Someone had pulled some hidden supplies out of the cave system and set up a small fabric shelter while they worked on something more permanent. So that's where Jake finally sat down next to his imprint, ordering Paul and Embry away. She was wrapped up in Embry's sweatshirt, a dark blue one that made her now shortened hair look pretty, and she was stretched out on a much too thin blanket, not good enough for ground this cold and hard, not good enough for his imprint. He didn't ask her if he could hold her hand. He took it anyway.

"I have a boyfriend, Jacob Black," Samantha said to him in a pain roughened voice, but she gave him a tiny smile and her fingers entwined with his. "Or at least, I did. Not so sure at the moment."

"Not interested, Samantha Carter," Jake chuckled, but he shifted over so that he could pull her head on his lap. It wasn't a very good pillow, but it was the best they had right now. He ran his hand over her head, stroking her hair soothingly as another round of muscle cramping went through her. Jake had yet to hear her cry out, even though he knew she was in a lot of pain. It made him cringe knowing that Chitakido's Beta had managed to keep her screaming a very long time. One day they would have to talk about it. Today would not be that day.

"Samantha, I need to talk to you about something," Jake said quietly. "I'll make this decision for you, if you can't, but I want to give you the option to decide for yourself. We don't think you have any internal bleeding or serious damage, that most of what was done was supposed to hurt instead of break you. But without taking you to the hospital, we can't be certain. The leech venom is bad news, though, and hospital meds might really mess with it, making you worse. I'll take you to the hospital if you want, but there are risks to that."

"I hate hospitals," she told him softly, and Jake nodded, running his hand through her hair again. She smelled of too many bad things all wrapped up in one mess, but deep beneath it was her scent, the scent of his imprint, and Jake found that soothing. The quivering that had filled his limbs from taking on so many wolves subsided slowly as he sat there, keeping her close.

"I hate them too," he agreed. "Ever since my mom died in one."

"Me too," Samantha nodded slightly. Jake was silent, and then he smiled at her.

"Hey, Samantha Carter. I think we just had our first bonding moment," the Alpha teased her lightly, and she rolled her eyes. Even that seemed to hurt because she grimaced, and it was tempting to pick her up and cradle her close, to try and use his person to soothe that away, but it was the imprint talking, not Jake. And Embry was watching them, his eyes worried and slightly jealous. Jake had no time for that, Samantha might be Embry's girl, but Jake had dibs too. He continued to stroke her hair, and she closed her eyes exhaustedly. The doctors said that the venom would make it nearly impossible for her to rest, but she was trying. He was proud of that, proud she was being quietly strong.

"Thanks for coming for me," she said after a while, and Jake shook his head.

"They took you because of me," he growled softly. "I fucked up."

"Yeah you did."

He looked at her and she yawned before flinching again. "What? I'm your imprint, I'm allowed to tell you if you fucked up. At least I don't make your ass go chasing fucking squirrels. Cassie's got Paul by the balls, you know."

"That's what Embry's for, apple girl," Jake said with a smirk. Then his smirk faded to a serious expression. He looked at the gathered wolves, stranger and friends, old and young, and then back at her. Her arm still had a cast on it, but it was so ragged that he was going to have one of his new wolves replace it. Or maybe Carlisle. Yeah, Carlisle. It was bad that he trusted a vampire over his new Pack but there it was. "Samantha, this isn't going to happen again," he promised her in a quiet voice. "You made some mistakes with me, but I made mistakes with you too. And I promise, this will never happen again. Can we start over?"

"Nope," Samantha shook her head, and he glanced at unhappily, but she was smiling at him again. "So we had a shitty start, Jacob Black, but it was still our start. I say leave it. Personally I'm just glad to be out of that damn cave, although if Paul tries to put my ass back in the Shaggin' Waggin', then I'll take the cave again."

Jake grinned and then patted her on the head. "We'll see," he said non-committingly. "Hey, you think if I kiss you now, Emb's going to go through the roof?"

"Please don't," she sighed, "I've had a bad enough day. Don't kiss Brady either, his day was worse. In fact, don't kiss anyone, we'll all be better for it." She was joking but he could see her fear in her eyes at the mention of Brady's name. Hell, they had moved him out of her range of sight because she was worrying herself sicker every time he made any sort of noise or movement at all.

"I'm taking care of him, Samantha," Jake said firmly. "I didn't let anything bad happen to Embry, and I'm not going to let anything bad happen to Brady. You guys are _all_ mine, and now that the Sims is out of the bag, you need to stop trying to protect things you care about by yourself. Believe it or not, I do give a shit about what matters to you. You know, as long as it doesn't affect what matters to me. In that case what matters to me wins."

"You're such a dick," she decided. "Go imprint on Leah."

"Too late," Jake stated mournfully. "I got stuck with apple girl. Plus I've inherited twenty-six wolves who are all staring at Lee-lee like they already have, so I'm shit out of luck." And then Jake did kiss her, because it was true, they were all staring at Leah, kind of like Embry was staring at Samantha, and she was his imprint. Hell, she had almost died, he wasn't exactly going to walk away from her with a handshake. Honestly, he was shocked she was as good as she was. For a moment there, he had been sure she was lost, but maybe Samantha Carter had more to her than met the eye. Whatever she had, she still stuck her tongue out and wiped his kiss off her forehead, because teasing him was a lot easier than dealing with everything else right now.

Funny she didn't have to tell him, and he knew that was exactly what she was thinking.

Since his imprint preferred an Embry pillow, and Embry wasn't doing so well staying that far away from her, Jake indicated for his brother to come over here now, which Embry did without delay. Jake waited until his older brother had settled down next to him, and gave Embry a very hard look.

"New rules," Jake ordered. "She's yours as long as she wants you, but she's mine too. You two can get married and have babies and be ridiculously happy together, but I get to hang around and bother her all I want to without you freaking out. If you can't handle that, then…well…ummm…you just have to handle that."

"Eloquently said, Jacob Black," Samantha smirked, but there was a shy vulnerability in her tone now that Embry was there, holding her hand instead of Jake. Yeah, she really did love Emb, huh? Embry frowned, but then nodded obediently.

Jake clapped his hands together. "Good. Oh, and apple girl thinks you dumped her, so fix that, Emb," Jake said, looking around and ignoring his imprint's glare. She was a good glarer.

The Alpha stood up and left the two alone, hearing Embry telling Samantha that she was crazy if she thought he would ever leave her. They began arguing softly, but Embry was lying down next to her, wrapping her up in his arms so securely that someone was going to have to pry her out, and she was burrowing into Embry as if this was exactly where she needed and wanted to be right then. Confident that Emb had things under control, Jake turned and examined his Pack. His new and improved Pack. Well maybe not improved. What the hell was he going to do with this many wolves, half of which looked scared to death of him and the other half furious as hell for killing their Alpha? At least Blondie was 'kenneling' several of them back home so that Jake didn't have to worry about them, but there were still so many. Not only that, forced or not, these wolves were killers. He couldn't take them to La Push, even under his command, he would never allow these murderers on his land.

"Damn, I'm not cut out for this shit," Jake muttered to himself.

"I keep saying that all the time, but no one lets _me_ off the hook," Paul said blandly as he wandered up to Jake's side. Seth had been with Brady, doing his best to comfort him, while keeping a protective eye on both Leah and Samantha, but he rose and joined the pair. Seth frowned at a one-eared wolf, and the wolf flattened on the ground, looking both embarrassed and angry.

"Some of these wolves will never be loyal to you, Jake," Seth said quietly, and Jake nodded. Too many of these wolves had been bought, and that wasn't the kind of loyalty Jake wanted or could afford.

"The rest seem more like frightened bunnies more than wolves," Paul added gruffly. "And I don't like the way so many of them are looking at Jack."

It was true. Of this many wolves, the one thing nearly all of them had in common was that they were staring at the ancient wolf in barely contained animosity. Jack had killed a lot of their Packmates, and Jake had learned that those wolves had been newer wolves to the Calgary Pack, wolves forced to fight without wanting to. Not only that, but some of the obviously older wolves were practically vibrating in hatred for him. Jack ignored it all, staying off to the side and out of the way, his scarred muzzle on his paws and his eyes miserable.

"Think they know something we don't?" Seth wondered, but Jake shook his head firmly and raised his voice so it carried clearly across the group.

"Not anything that Jack hasn't already told me. And I doubt any of them are in a position to be judgmental of any wolf of _mine_," Jake added sharply, letting the power of his voice roll over them. "I think we could all agree on that." His newest additions shivered, or growled, but they all agreed.

"I'm not so sure that _everyone_ could hold that opinion, Jacob Black," Tupkuk said quietly.

How he had gotten this close without them scenting him, Jake didn't know. Paul let out a snarl and made to step in front of Jake as the three wolves stepped into the clearing in their human forms, the Saskatchewan Alpha quietly eyeing Jake as his wolfborn glanced around curiously. One of them smiled at Leah, although the other was growling at an owl. Seth grabbed Paul's arm and shoved him behind the Beta's back, but Jake stepped firmly in front of Seth. This was a powerful Alpha, one that Jake didn't want any of his wolves near.

Tupkuk smiled a sad smile, his eyes flickering over the masses, and then he turned back.

"In fact, I'm not sure that we could hold that opinion at all," Tupkuk said quietly. "Anyways it doesn't matter, all you've done is slaughter our people, and allow your kadidu to do the same at your command. I apologize for the rudeness of this, but I'm going to have to insist."

"Insist on what, exactly?" Jake asked suspiciously, taking an aggressive step forward. He didn't like this wolf, not at all.

"Insist on you letting them go," Tupkuk said regretfully. "Packless they are better than under one such as you. I should have interceded long before, but I did not, and only harm has come of it. I only make my mistakes once, baby-Alpha. Now, if you'll please, release your Pack."

Jake stared at Tupkuk incredulously, which was his first mistake. With an old wolf like Tupkuk, one only needed to make a single mistake. The moment their eyes locked, the older Alpha smiled slightly, this time in victory as he took control and froze Jake in his tracks.

**"Jacob Black, **_**release your Pack**_**."**

And there was nothing he could do but to obey.

* * *

There was a moment in every squirrel's life when he had to make a choice between love and revenge.

Love had many forms, and Pyatno had found it in the form of a smallish sized Two-Legged-Nut-Taker. He was fond of her, even if she seemed oblivious to even the most basic of ritualistic behaviors and was utterly inept at acceptable forms of communication. But she liked to provide offerings of food and drink, and as a squirrel of high standing, Pyatno could appreciate her gestures of reparation. After all, She-Who-Ran-Screaming-With-The-Waitress-Fondler was friends with She-Who-Has-The-Foot-Of-Death, and was mated to He-Who-Growls-And-Turns-Fluffy-Except-For-When-With-Mate. None of these things were particularly impressive, not to Pyatno, but he had always been an open minded type of squirrel. And Pyatno could appreciate She-Who-Ran-Screaming-With-The-Waitress-Fondler for all of her good points, and her bad, and choose to love her anyways. He loved her even as the object of his revenge was taken one way and the object of his affection was taken another.

There was a moment in every squirrel's life where he had to choose love or revenge, and so of course Pyatno made the appropriate decision. He chose revenge.

Unfortunately revenge didn't work so well, after all there were other, greater predators after the object of his revenge, and it seemed that She-Who-Has-The-Foot-Of-Death was universally unloved and one must line up and wait for the opportunity to extract one's revenge upon her. Pyatno had foolishly wasted a golden opportunity and now he was left with the lesser, more dishonorable choice. Pyatno, having nothing better to do, chose love and decided to follow She-Who-Was-Dramatically-Rescued.

Her mate was a watchful one, but Pyatno was clever, and hid with many hiding as they travelled through the place with many Two-Legged-Nut-Takers. He-Who-Was-Extra-Growly was busy growling at everyone else, so Pyatno was able to follow at a safe distance. There was a machine that was not as swift as he, but he leapt up on it when no one was watching and took his place next to a smallish owl that also had business in the place where the Two-Legged-Nut-Takers disappeared into the sky. Pyatno knew when to lead and when to follow, and in having identified another that was a master of disguise, Pyatno assumed a stiffed position on his side, trying to achieve the fluffy softness the owl seemed to have adopted so effortlessly. Pyatno was even more impressed when he saw that the owl had a collaborator, a small Two-Legged that picked him up after journeying through The-Box-That-Made-Him-Feel-Funny.

Perhaps Pyatno should obtain one for himself.

After regaining his nature grace and agility, Pyatno tracked She-Who-Looked-Worried, following at a safe distance. There was a moment where he had lost her, but he found her with many findings, in a well-lit yet odorous place, and he was glad to have left that hideaway. He-Who's-Mate-Made-Him-Fluffy decided that the ground was better than standing, and in his efforts to blend in with his environment, Pyatno mimicked the male's behavior, although his tail still hurt and he wasn't sure why he was supposed to be putting his paws on someone else's in a supplicating manner. And then the male left, leaving behind his mate, and Pyatno resumed his place at her side. After all, he might have made a dishonorable choice, but he was consistent in the choices that he made.

They journeyed across the land and sky, across the water and more land, and Pyatno observed that the Two-Legged-Nut-Takers needed not two legs at all, for they could make things levitate at will. It was an impressive skill, much more impressive than the fast moving, large genitaled canine contraption, and Pyatno rested at his leisure for some time, having found a place that provided snacks for many snackings. And thus it became that Pyatno, He-Who-Was-Stomped-And-Taken-After-Bravely-Defending-His-People, learned that there was a world beyond that which he had always known. Perhaps he and She-Who-Seemed-Determined-Not-To-Be-Frightened could make a good life here. Perhaps there would be nuts.

With this in mind, Pyatno followed She-Who-He-Had-Followed, all the way until she was met with many meetings by Two-Leggeds with strange greetings. She seemed cold, aloof, not at all herself, and as a strong Two-Legged with a scar on his jaw smiled and leaned in, brushing a kiss across her cheek, she grew colder. Enough so that Pyatno wondered if this world might actually _not_ be a wondrous place. Maybe this was a dangerous place. Maybe this place would not have any nuts at all. That would be troublesome. So he narrowed his eyes and began to hunt this one she called Afon, this one that her scent said was an enemy. He would hunt with many hunting and find out just what it was that was so dangerous about this scarred jawed man. Viciously content, Pyatno squeaked.

Perhaps there was revenge to be had after all.


	20. Chapter 18

A/N Yay, I got it out faster than the last one, huh? I'm going out of town for a week and a half, lots of time to write and no internet that we've found so far. I should have the last chapters done by the time I get back. (crosses fingers) A huge thanks to those who helped me find info this chapter (they're the reasons this is done so soon): _LightIsPrecious, megawords19, EnglishVoice, _and_ eskimogirl58_. Fyi: Moscow's eight hours ahead of Washington, and assume unless specified that conversations in Russia are in Russian. Thanks with many thankings to my reviewers!: _HopefulHeartache, pinkshirt, Miss Bear, Manna1, hilja, megawords19, LexaBrooke, LightIsPrecious, KerryH, EnglishVoice, MadToTheBone1, cylobaby, SARAH DB, toalli, exquisiteabyss, SugerSweetCutie, moani-sama, Buffyk0604, Roonani, TheLovelyImprinted, EaSofie, QahlanKwaiya, esoteric desideratum, InsanelyxLOUD, StealthLiberal, laurazuleta18, mcc3654, and LucyPenny, TeffieS, chickadee74, _and_ Negrinha_.

Last thing, _LightIsPrecious_ has been doing some plot Beta-ing for me. So yay for her! (does the Beta booty shake) But any bad grammar or spelling is my own so blame that on me. :)

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Eighteen

She dreamed she was nothing.

After all, what had always made her something was gone now, had slipped away like the colors and the heat and the noises all around her, until all she was left was nothing. She had tried to become something again, but it was impossible, because she was surrounded by nothing, nothing at all. She sat in an empty room, alone on her chair, and watched nothing. And even though she twisted and turned to look, no matter how hard she fought to see something, anything, there was nothing left here for her. Nothing, nothing at all. She rose from the chair and stepped to the wall, running her hand along the flat empty surface, and she paused by the window. It was nothing in here, and cold out there, and the glass was fogged up. She leaned closer to the window pane, searching, searching for something out there, something at all, anything at all. A face appeared in the glass, and she jerked away as the glass shattered. The wolf snarled and leapt at the glass, and she screamed, but no sound came out. After all, here up in this room, there was nothing, nothing at all, not even fear.

Funny. It was that nothingness that she had always feared the most.

* * *

Cassie woke up with a soft cry, just as the plane hit the ground with a small thud. Her hand was clenched around the armrest of her seat, and the man next to her, a well-dressed elderly gentleman, gave her a sympathetic smile. She could tell by the way he gave her hand a light pat that he thought she was scared of flying. Cassie gave him back a weak smile and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. It was a long flight, and she was sore from the bruising on her side, the bruising caused by Collin falling on her. Cassie wasn't scared of flying, but she was scared of flying away and never having anything to come back to.

Closing her eyes, Cassie tried to feel Paul. He wasn't there.

"Are you here to visit or to stay?" the man asked politely in Russian, and Cassie blinked in surprise before she realized she had better get accustomed to her native tongue being used around her again. After all, this wasn't Washington anymore. The blonde considered the question, and then gave him another smile.

"Is it bad that I'm not sure?" she asked with a quirk of her lips. "Not to stay, I hope, but I don't really know. I think I'm supposed to be hiding out until the world back there becomes more normal again. How about you?"

"I'm not sure the world will ever be _normal_," the old man chuckled. "But my wife and I got married in Moscow when we were younger than you are," he told her, twisting his wedding ring in his hand. "My Nora, she loved it here, the lights, the people, the food…She just loved everything about it. We came back every year for our anniversary, even when it became dangerous to do so. My Nora, she only saw the beauty in this world, never the bad. And I could never tell her no."

"Is it your anniversary now?" Cassie asked, leaning her head against the seat as she turned and angled herself towards him. The plane had finished taxiing to the terminal, but unlike the other passengers, neither he nor Cassie shifted out of their seats. The elderly gentleman nodded, and pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. There was a picture in it of him and a woman, a smiling redhead that was clinging to a slender young man's waist.

"That's my Nora," he said proudly, his aged marked thumb shakily brushing the picture. "Mine forty-nine years tomorrow. She's beautiful, isn't she?" Cassie leaned over and took in the picture, allowing herself to see more than a pair of happy strangers, to see what he saw. Nora was his height, so she had to lean to rest her head on his shoulder. She had red hair, but darker, like a deep woodsy mahogany, and it made her eyes shine. Her arm was around his waist, but his was around her shoulders, his fisted hand resting lightly against her collarbone as he grinned and tugged her in closer. He had wanted her closer for this picture, so that everyone would know she was his. _His_.

"She's amazing," Cassie said softly and she meant it. Nora was amazing, because she loved this man, and he loved her, and that was the most amazing thing anyone could have together. And then, because it needed to be acknowledged, Cassie slipped her hand over his and squeezed the same way he had done for her. "When did you lose her?"

The old man's lip quivered, ever so slightly, but his smile, his proud smile never left. "Two years last July. She was a good woman, my Nora. The best kind really, and the Lord knew it. I suppose he figured that I had had her long enough, and it was time I gave her back." He glanced at Cassie, whose eyes had filled with tears, and he winked. "I didn't give her back easy, though," he added. "If a man's got something good, then he needs to fight to keep it."

Cassie closed her eyes and felt Paul's arms around her, his warm breath against her shoulder, and his voice in her ear. Paul was a fighter, and he protected what was his. There was a rubber band looped over her ring finger three times, a rubber band that said she was Paul's, and that meant he'd fight to protect her too. That was what he was doing, and she was proud of him. Scared to death, yes, but fiercely proud of him.

She opened her eyes again, and wiped them unabashedly. "Nora was lucky she had you," Cassie decided, squeezing his hand again as the passengers all grumpily filled the aisle, bumping against each other as they impatiently debarked the plane. He gave her a watery smile, and then released Cassie's hand, looking back down at the picture. Realizing that she would soon be intruding on a personal moment between a man and his wife, Cassie slipped out of her seat. She couldn't remember the last time she had travelled with nothing at all. Her passport and her cell phone, Paul's debit card and the tiny Rubix cube that Collin had given her. Paul's need to get her out and get her out now had made her upend her purses and grab the things from each that she needed most.

Paul had insisted on her having access to his money, he didn't trust her family and he might not have much, but there was enough to get her back home again if something bad happened. Cassie had paid for her own ticket there, using the last of her own personal money. A last minute ticket from Missoula to Moscow wasn't cheap, and even though she had flown coach, Cassie had still had to pay nearly twelve hundred dollars to get there. Her wolf had been saving since he was sixteen, he had about seven thousand dollars to show for it, but the money was in his checking account, not his savings. The debit card would work as a credit card too, use it as she needed to, and he'd make sure he got more money shifted into his checking account as soon as he could.

That might be never, but Cassie was pretty sure that if it came to that, it wouldn't matter. The imprint bond might be shoved down so deep, and she might be so far away that she couldn't feel Paul anymore, but Cassie couldn't see her being able to survive without him, at least not for long. Her soul twinged when he walked out the door, it ached when he was away for more than a few hours, and it felt like a deep raw wound in being separated like this. Cassie couldn't imagine a life without Paul in it anymore. Not too long ago that power he had over her would have frightened her, put her on the offensive to get the power back in her hands, but this was Paul. It wasn't a contest, they were both on the same side of this game.

Maybe one day he'd trust her enough to see that she could do more than sit on the bench and cheer, that she could stand at his side and hold her own.

There was a skittering by her feet as she walked down the aisle, and Cassie glanced down, but besides a stray pretzel wrapper, she saw nothing. Shrugging, she left the plane and headed through the terminal. She knew she looked a wreck, still in clothes she had meant to sleep in and a pair of Ugg boots that she never would have worn out of the States, especially not here. She had no makeup, no hairbrush, and while she normally would have stopped at one of the stores in the airport and purchased these things, she was too distracted to even think about it. Paul. Paul and Collin. Samantha and Brady. Everyone, everyone she cared so much about…they were all in danger and that worried her so much. They would be okay, because they had to be, and in the meantime, Cassie would keep her phone glued to her hip, waiting for Paul's call. He would call, he would. He had to.

Cassie was nose deep in her cell, making sure she hadn't received any calls while she was in transit, and therefore wasn't paying attention the way she should. That was why she almost walked straight into Afon Cherkov as she stepped through the security gates.

"Hello, darling," Afon purred, his hands moving to her shoulders to steady her, and Cassie lifted her face to his, her eyes momentarily going wide. Then she glanced around in panic, seeing only Afon's security men and no Koldan in sight. Her father's head of security was supposed to have discreetly picked her up and relocated her to the relative safety of her family homes before Afon knew she was even in the country. She hadn't called Koldan to make sure he was here, she was simply so used to Koldan's reliability that it never occurred to her he wouldn't be waiting, but she should have. Afon was an expert at finding useless errands to get Koldan sent away to do, while Afon himself "attended to matters". And until she knew for a fact the man was there, she should have stayed in the terminal until that happened. She had been distracted by her worry for Paul, she had been stupid, and this was the result. She hadn't thought that Afon would know, she had used her personal account to pay for the ticket so it couldn't be easily tracked, but she should have known better. This man made an art form of knowing where she was and what she was doing.

Cassie shivered but refused to step back. Instead she plastered on a smile, shifting her body so that it was at its most advantageous. He wasn't just addicted to her body, he was obsessed with it, and it was her best weapon. Afon had taught her years ago that her body was a very dangerous weapon, to herself and to others.

"And just when I think that no one loves me anymore, here I am, my greatest admirer waiting on bended knee for my arrival," Cassie said with a little toss of her hair. "Although I wish you would have waited. It's awfully bad timing, Afon, I'm very tired and not at all up too entertaining, not even once such as you."

Afon chuckled and took her hand, lifting it and brushing a kiss across her knuckles. It was her left hand, and inwardly Cassie cringed when his piercing dark eyes took in the rubber band on her finger. Part of what made this man dangerous was that he missed _nothing_.

"Ahh, my dear Ksanochka, have we been getting engaged behind my back?" he teased light, plucking at the rubber band. "Or is this your whimsical way of saying you'll finally stop contradicting your father and my wishes?"

"I met a werewolf," she shot back instinctively. Too many years of wordplay with this man had molded her, and a couple months of Paul's watchful attention had only saved her so much. "He's very attractive and could eat you and your men for breakfast, and he loves me very much. Ours is the supernatural kind of relationship, and you should watch yourself, Afon. I've been known to run over vampires with cars, and I'm pretty sure you would stay down the first time I hit you."

This time the scarred jawed man laugh outright, jerking her flush against his body. "That, my dear Ksana, I highly doubt. But in that case, I'll have to remind you _just_ how highly you hold me in regard," he murmured against her ear after brushing a kiss across her cheek, and Cassie felt his body harden as his hand on her lower back kept her in place.

He was tall and strong, frighteningly so. Well, that is he would have been for someone who hadn't spent months curled against real strength, who hadn't passed out on Jake's shoulder, or slept on Collin's chest, or spent a night lost in Paul's arms. This man was only a man. A powerful and dangerous one, but just a man. He frightened her, but Cassie suddenly realized that he frightened her less than some other things did. Watching the monsters come for Collin had been worse than watching the monster come for her. It was the first time in years that she had worse things to worry about than Afon Cherkov, and it gave her courage in a moment where she would have previously fallen apart.

"Out of curiosity, Afon," Cassie purred, pushing herself into his personal space instead of pulling away. "How does it feel to have to forcibly take something that I've spent the last year giving out for free to everyone I met?"

She expected the hand across her face, and it hurt, but it was a victory. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless. They were in public, and he had lost his temper enough to strike her here, where everyone could see. A couple glared at him in anger as she turned her face back up to his and smirked.

"Impressive, you only last a few moments before becoming your true self," Cassie said, sounding bored. "I'll have to keep a watch next time, it happened so fast I almost missed it.

"Your tongue has gotten sharper, darling," Afon decided even as he quickly restrained his anger, although she could see it in his eyes. "I'll have to see if I can find better uses for it." He took her by the arm and began leading her through the baggage claim, his men sweeping out around them to make a path, and if screaming for help would have done a bit of good, Cassie would have been tempted. But she knew better. Goading him was stupid, but not goading him usually had the same result, and off balance people made mistakes.

"I've learned plenty," Cassie assured him brightly. "Nearly every night for a year, so as long as you're interested in having the sloppy seconds of, well, _everyone_, then by all means…"

"You're _mine_," he snarled in her ear, so quietly only Cassie heard. Louder he said, "My men will wait and collect your baggage, Ksana."

"Then he'll be waiting awhile. I've got three bags coming on the next flight out of Los Angeles," she lied smoothly, as if him dragging her to his limo wasn't utterly terrifying. "Since Koldan has apparently been detained, I take it I can trust _someone_ to handle that for me?"

"I think we can manage," Afon smirked, flicking his finger at two of his men, who dropped off immediately. That left Afon and two others. If he decided to pass her around in the car, at least it wouldn't be five. As Cassie was shoved in the most gentlemanly fashion into a stretched armored Mercedes Benz, the million dollar car that would eventually take her home, she remembered a man walking her to a different home, a better home, her drunk and draped over his shoulder as he quietly whistled a tune. Two men, two entirely different worlds, and she would suffer the one to protect the other. Even as she thought this, the doors closed, leaving Little Red locked up tight, the Hunter watching her with hungry eyes.

Cassie flipped open her phone and dialed so quickly that he had barely had time to reach for her before her mother's voice came over the line.

"_Ksanochka!_," her mother practically shrieked, "You had to have chosen _now_ to have come back? _Now_? The very night we're hosting Ani's party and we're supposed to just drop everything and accommodate _your_ needs?"

"Hello to you too, mother," Cassie said sweetly, which only made her mother's voice rise in volume.

"A year away," the older woman fumed, "And you couldn't have chosen _any_ other day? Do you know how hard it is going to be to find you an appropriate gown this late? Half of the boutiques are already closed, and Ani says you've gained weight. I swear that you do _everything_ you possibly can to make my life as ridiculously difficult as it can be!"

Even as Cassie flinched back from the volume of her mother's angry voice over the phone, she smirked at the man across the limo. Cassie's mother would keep this conversation going, and it wasn't the first time Cassie had used her extended rants to head off Afon's intentions. An expression of annoyance flitting over his handsome features. He might have been twenty years older than her, but he was a distinguished looking man, and only the scar that Koldan had so nicely arranged for his neck marred that. Well, and the fact that he was a heartless demon beneath that face, but only a few had the luck of knowing that.

Cassie was a lucky, lucky girl.

"Mother, calm down, we're almost home," she said into her phone, raising an eyebrow at Afon, who seemed amused along with annoyed. He smirked and reached over into the cooler compartment, pulling out a chilled bottle of chardonnay and a corkscrew. He carefully poured her a glass and then with a gesture of benevolence, handed it to her. Cassie glanced over at the security guard next to her, a thug that she'd had the unfortunate experience of being subjected to multiple times, and she casually upended the glass of wine in his lap and handed the glass back. The security guard snarled, but a look from Afon stilled him, and he went silent.

"In fact," Cassie added, "I would say that we should be there any minute. My jaw hurts awfully, though, the flight was so rough that one would think a Neanderthal had slapped me."

Afon chuckled and poured her a second glass, and this time she sipped it delicately, because the devil might be a bastard but he had _excellent_ taste in wine.

"Well, that's what you get for flying coach," her mother snapped back. "And you're fortunate that Afon was so kind as to offer to get you."

"Didn't you know, mother?" Cassie said cheerfully, before splashing the second glass in the guard next to Afon's face. She been subjected to him, too, and he was far worst than the first. Afon sighed and worked on pouring a third. "The name Afon is synonymous with kindness. In fact, he's the most generous person I know. You should have seen what he got me for my birthday, I'm absolutely _sure_ that I'll never forget it."

Her mother wasn't sure what to say about that, so she launched into exactly why Cassie needed to have given her a warning about coming into the city, especially on this day of all days, and it occurred to Cassie after about five or so minutes of listening that the reason why her mother was so upset was that she was ashamed. She was ashamed that Cassie would be at the party. She was ashamed that Cassie was home. Something inside Cassie's soul, a pile of pieces that had been swept under the corner, pieces that Paul had been painstakingly gluing back together, started to crack. And from his place across the limo, Afon raised his glass in a toast, to himself and to her.

After all, he had been dismantling Cassie for years now, and it was always gratifying to know that a job is well done. This time, she kept her glass.

* * *

"**Jacob Black, **_**release your Pack**_."

Tupkuk was a strong Alpha, but he wasn't stronger than Jake, at least not by much. However, the Saskatchewan Alpha was an old and canny wolf, and he knew how to grab even strong wolves when they were caught unawares. Jake was caught unawares and he had no choice but to do just what he was told. However, the Saskatchewan Alpha had not specified if Jake was to release them completely or release them to someone else, and so before Tupkuk could order differently Jake released Seth to himself and the rest of his entire Pack to Paul. It was a risk, because Paul had never had to hold a Pack before, just a couple wolves. But it was a calculated risk because Seth was stronger than Paul, had a better chance of fighting these wolves, and Seth was dominant enough to be able to shoulder aside the pain of losing his Alpha and still function as a lone wolf how Jake needed him to function.

To his credit, when the weight of forty wolves fell on Paul's shoulders, Paul didn't hit his knees, but he sure as hell staggered sideways.

Unable to refuse the last order his previous Alpha had given him, Seth sprang away, snatching up an infuriated Leah, who was howling in pain at being taken from Jake. Embry was already crouched in front of Sims, and Seth forced Leah between Embry and Sims, trying to buffer them both. Leah wasn't taking that well, Paul knew this because Leah was Paul's she-wolf now, and Paul was pretty damn sure that he wasn't going to be able to hold her in his Pack for long. He had no idea if he'd be able to hold any of them in his Pack for long, and Paul cursed as he felt the first of them slide through his fingers. It was Jack.

Loosened from Paul's control, the control that wanted all of Paul's wolves to stay the hell _back_ from the danger that was Tupkuk and the wolfborn, the ancient wolf bellowed in fury and flung himself forward at the Saskatchewan Alpha. Jake might have been momentarily damaged from losing his Pack, but he still had enough to lunge for Jack and grab the brindle wolf by the ruff, driving the darker muzzle into the ground. Jake's body was in between Jack and Tupkuk, his weight holding Jack down, and it left Jake open to attack, on the ground in front of another Alpha. But the young Alpha's body was between Tupkuk and Jack and it was going to stay there.

"Interesting," Tupkuk murmured quietly. "**Release him**."

"No fucking way," Jake growled back, shifting so that the snarling wolf in the dirt was even more out of sight, his huge hand still holding Jack squashed to the ground. "That shit may have worked once, but not again. Paul, I want my wolves back."

He said it like he was asking Paul to pass him the damn table salt. Paul had no clue how to do that, especially not when he was trembling with the exertion of not losing Leah and Embry both. Tupkuk smiled slightly.

"Your wolf is too green for what you're asking of him," the Alpha stated simply. "You should have passed them to your Beta."

"My Beta has other things to do, Paul's just fine," Jake retorted. It was bad having their Alpha on the ground in front of another Alpha, but Jack was still snarling, trying to get to Tupkuk, and the Saskatchewan Alpha was watching this with bright eyes.

"Your _kadidu_ doesn't like being separated from his master," Tupkuk observed, condescension dripping from his voice. "Apparently he will only come to heel for you, Jacob Black."

"It's amazing the difference that love makes, instead of hatred," Jake said in a hard voice. "Call my wolf a dog again and we are going to have problems, Saskatchewan."

"You don't _have_ any wolves anymore, La Push," the older Alpha commented lightly, gazing at the assembled wolves. Some of them were staring at Tupkuk in angry fear, like the La Push wolves, but some were staring at Tupkuk hungrily, and they were straining to shift out of Paul's hold because of it. Paul lost three of the strongest Calgary wolves and Leah, but Seth grabbed Leah even as she slid from Paul's control. Instantly his hold on the Pack weakened dramatically. Sweat was pouring down his neck. Oh hell, Paul had just lost Embry.

Embry was growling deep in his throat and Seth had a hand on his arm restraining him, but Seth didn't take Embry back. Seth was reserved solely for protecting Leah, that had been Jake's last silent order to his Beta. No distractions, no matter what, and the rest of the wolves were distractions.

"You're wrong," Jake stated, loudly enough that his voice rolled over them, so powerful even without a Pack behind him. "They're my wolves no matter who holds them. And Jack's been listening to you assholes for way too long. He's my wolf, and until he chooses otherwise, he will stay that way."

The brindle wolf was still snarling terribly, but he stopped fighting as Jake tightened his hand down. "Jack's mine," Jake repeated confidently. "Nothing you do can take that from him. Calm down Jack, you didn't lose me."

Jack whined, and then whined again, louder. Tupkuk was silent, and the wolfborn at his sides shifted, as if unsettled. One was still watching Leah, but the other was eyeing Paul. Tupkuk never stopped him as the first wolfborn wandered off into the woods, seemingly mindlessly, and after a moment the older Alpha exhaled.

"Your loyalty is commendable, but misplaced, pup-Alpha," Tupkuk finally said, sounding resigned. "And to be loyal to one such as him merely proves that you aren't fit to hold the wolves you were given. Your Third is struggling, and when he loses all of your wolves, it will be for the best. They will be better off lone wolves than with you."

"Gotta be honest, asshole, I'm not really sure what you mean by that," Jacob growled, keeping a hand on Jack's ruff as he slowly stood up, the brindle wolf pressed against his side. "But I've seen what being a lone wolf does to one of us, and I wouldn't put that shit on any of my Pack. I'm not the best Alpha, but I'm better than them getting stuck being alone. And I'm sure as hell better than their _last_ Alpha," he added.

Tupkuk's eyes flashed and he stepped forward gracefully. Jack never dislodged Jake's hand from his ruff, but he did shift so that he was pressing against the front of Jake's legs and not the side. "You're a killer, Jacob Black," Tupkuk stated sharply. "Did you know that out of all the Packs in all the history of our people, your Pack has killed the most of our kind? In one year, you and yours have killed so many of our brothers. Chitakido was a bad Alpha, and he killed as well, but not like you. Never like you."

"I'm worse than an Alpha who murdered _humans_?" Jake asked, deeply insulted, and Tupkuk sighed.

"Worse is a relative term," Tupkuk said softly, looking unhappy to even be having this conversation. "The Pack protects the people, and the Alpha guides and protects the Pack. Even with our brothers split like this, that you have not kept your wolves from killing others of our kind is a testament to your misguided attempts at leadership. And you have taken to heel the first wolf of our kind to ever turn on his own. No Packmate had ever killed another until your _kadidu_, your _Jack_. Is it so surprising that he has taken you as his Alpha? You have allowed him to be that which he is best at being, a murderer and a betrayer of our kind."

Jake was quiet for a long moment, and then he stood taller, stepping in front of Jack. "Paul, give me back my wolves."

Paul was struggling, trying so hard not to lose all of them all at once, and he barely managed to grit out, "I don't know how, Jake."

"You don't have to know how, Paul," Jake said firmly. "Just give them back_. Now_." And so he did. Only Paul dumped half of the Calgary wolves in the process, and Jake shed the rest, leaving just himself and his normal Pack.

It was a painful experience, and as Jake grabbed back Jack and Embry, Paul could feel the structure of the Pack rearranging around itself. Seth and Leah, Jake left alone, and Paul didn't understand that. But then again, right now, Paul didn't understand a lot. It was enough that he had his Alpha's back and no longer the entire Pack on his shoulders, and as long as Seth was out of the Pack, Paul was Beta. Oh _great_.

The wolf sighed. He had just gotten his human trained enough to be Third, and that had been quite a chore. The wolf yawned and decided to worry about it another day. In Paul's opinion, the word 'abandoned' came to mind.

The Calgary wolves were split, and some started to flee while some began creeping on human knees and canine bellies towards Tupkuk, who looked extremely unhappy with their approach. Only a couple eyed Jake, but then sank into the dirt, lost and confused.

"_**Stay**_," Jake said sharply, and the power in that command rolled over everyone, leaving only Tupkuk and his remaining wolfborn unaffected, and an only slightly stiffened Seth.

Seth had Leah by the hand, and he was drawing her further back, tensed as if he was ready to spring. She was the most important thing there, and she and Seth were very fast. Seth was at the moment an Alpha of one, an Alpha of a she-wolf, and that made him strong. Without the physical ties to Jake and the Pack, Seth had as much freedom as he needed to flee, to hide himself and his sister, and knowing Seth, be hell to find later. All of the other wolves dropped in place, and even if it frightened them even more, at least they were being told what to do, and Paul felt their relief from that. He understood that need for leadership, although the stronger he became, the less he felt it. He was surprised Jake was this strong without Leah.

"Jack, phase human," Jake added, and the ancient wolf did as he was commanded. It was the first time Paul had ever seen that look on Jack's face, the pure malice. Jack _hated_ Tupkuk, hated him fiercely, and it shone in his dark eyes. "Jack, I want you to go back with Brady. He's hurt, and you need to stay with him. _Now_, Jack."

Jack shivered but did as he was told, backing away and never taking his eyes from Tupkuk. It left Jake alone, and Paul knew he couldn't get to Jake before the other Alpha and his wolfborn could. Jake didn't seem disturbed by this. Instead he was ignoring the Alpha, focusing in on the wolves around them. A few were still trying to crawl towards Tupkuk, fighting Jake's order with everything they had.

"You could have them if you wanted to," Jake murmured thoughtfully, and to Paul's horror, Jake squatted down, unconcerned. Jake gestured at the wolves straining towards Tupkuk. "Look at them. They're practically crying for you, Saskatchewan. They want you as their Alpha, and it would strengthen you. You took me by surprise earlier, but you're not strong enough to take me when I'm expecting it. But with them, you might be, and still you stand there and do nothing. You don't want me to have them, but you don't want them either, do you?"

To Paul's shock, the other Alpha took a step forward and did as Jake did, dropping to his heels. "I don't want them," Tupkuk agreed after a long moment of silence. The statement was met with several pained whimpers, and Paul saw a few of the wolves stop fighting and grow limp. Dejected. Rejected. Lost. _Forgotten_. One particular wolf, one that Paul had dumped first, was still trying to strain towards Tupkuk's side, his dark muzzle bleeding. This one had fought Jack before managing to get the rest of the Calgary wolves to flee away from the ancient wolf and Collin, and this wolf was staring at Tupkuk as if starving.

Things began to click together in Paul's mind, and he exhaled sharply. Then he did as his Alpha had, dropping down, only Paul went lower, resting on his knees in the dirt. His Pack followed suit, everyone but Seth and Leah, although Embry wasn't very happy about it. Paul's theory slipped from his head into Jake's, and the Alpha nodded at Paul in acknowledgement before turning his attention back to the Calgary wolves. It occurred to Paul that they might have a disadvantage here, and that maybe Tupkuk had a point, but if Paul had the chance to pick sides again, he would chose the side he was already on. A slight smile curled Jake's lips at that before he addressed the older Alpha.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Jake hummed, still looking around. "The one that led the original Pack against the white men? It was you that led your Pack in a way that ended up in banishment. What were you, then? The Fourth?"

Tupkuk said nothing, but he flinched back from the title, and his wolfborn turned blue eyes Jake's way, narrowing them slightly. Paul growled at that, drawing Wihl's attention, and it occurred to Paul that he was an idiot if he was trying to get into a third match with these particular wolves.

"The Third likes things in threes," Wihl murmured, tilting his head to the side, but at a gesture from Tupkuk, Wihl sank down to the ground next to his Alpha, still eyeing Jake and Paul and Leah with equal interest. Jake lifted an eyebrow, and then shook his head.

"Two centuries later and here we all are," the La Push Alpha stated. "A Pack of wolves gone bad, their Alpha and their Beta having led them that way. I wonder, Tupkuk of Saskatchewan, how much of all of this is your fault?" Jake's brown eyes locked on Tupkuk in a rebuking fashion. "How much is the Calgary Alpha's crimes _your_ fault from not only allowing your Pack to separate in the first place, but to let ones like him rise up in leadership? I'm only nineteen years old, and even _I_ know better than that."

Tupkuk said nothing, but his eyes flashed with anger and shame, with guilt, and several of the Calgary wolves growled at Jake.

"Hush," Jake said idly, flicking his finger, and the growls cut off. He addressed Tupkuk with the same tone of disappointment that Paul had heard the Saskatchewan Alpha take when speaking of Jake. "They want you, Tupkuk, and you won't take them. Your wolfborn forced you to be their Alpha, but these wolves can't. So you leave them at the mercy of one's like Chitakido? And you're okay with that? You're an asshole."

"Like you, baby-Alpha," the old wolf said sharply. "I am unfit to lead. Only unlike you, I am aware of it. My mistakes in leading destroyed our Pack, and it is better for me to not lead at all."

"No, you're wrong. I'm fit to lead," Jake decided fiercely. "I just make mistakes. Killing the culled Pack was a mistake. I ordered against it, but I wasn't clear enough to my Pack, and they fought hard to protect me. Letting Paul come here so unprotected was a mistake, letting the imprints out of my sight was a bigger mistake. But I support Jack, and I don't regret his actions against the Calgary Pack. Even if it was no fault of the Calgary wolves that they were ordered to attack my Pack by their Alpha, it _would_ have been a fault of Jack's if he had stood by and let it happen. He's a good wolf, and he's mine, and I'm taking exception to all of you gunning for him."

"Again, you condone the behavior of the most hated wolf in our history," Tupkuk stated harshly. "He-"

"He killed your Beta to protect a leech. Yeah, I got it," Jake said dismissively. "He told me all about it before he joined my Pack. Think maybe you assholes could have stopped to _talk_ to him about it before trying to tear the woman he was in love with into pieces?"

"_Don't_ speak of things you _can't_ understand," Tupkuk snarled, but Jake wasn't impressed.

"Don't assume I can't understand things I can," Jake drawled back. "Not all leeches are evil, asshole. Some are just stupid people, stupid girls that didn't know any better before they were turned. And I'll tell you what, if that leech venom they scratched into my imprint had turned her, I'd take down every single one of you and yours to protect her."

"If I had turned into a leech, you better have _offed_ my ass, Jacob Black," Sims spoke up weakly from behind the protection of their Pack, and Jake barked out a laugh. Tupkuk raised an eyebrow in interest, turning towards Sims and earning a deep fierce growl from Embry.

"Ignore her," Jake chuckled. "No one listens to her anyways. The point being, I get where he's coming from."

"And if he had killed your Seth to protect a leech, your _Beta_, the _heart_ of your Pack, you would just allow that for the sake of a Cold One?" Tupkuk asked in return, looking as if he quite disagreed even though his anger was better controlled now. "No, Jacob Black, I don't think you would be alright with that."

"No," Jake replied firmly. "I wouldn't. But I wouldn't let a wolf be tortured by centuries of guilt over it. I wouldn't let a Packmate be driven mad. I would hate him, and I would want to kill him, but I wouldn't do that to one of my own. And we don't kill because we enjoy it, Saskatchewan. We kill because we have no other choice. Unlike the one you so easily lump me in with, we don't do it cruelly. These wolves you would set free watched my imprint and my wolf be tortured, and didn't try to stop it. They admitted to only one of them resisting the order enough to stand up to their Alpha. _One_ wolf tried to stop it from happening."

Tupkuk looked unhappy at that, and some of the Calgary wolves flattened even further, as if maybe their body's could disappear from site if they pressed their noses hard enough to the dirt.

Jake gave his own Pack a searching look. Not a single one of them without the exception of Jack, was cowering. Paul would have to work on that with Jack. "I can promise you now, Tupkuk, that my Pack would _never_ have stood by and let that happen. They nearly broke themselves resisting an order to simply scare a human, they could _never_ have stood by and accepted this. My own imprint tries to take me down when she disagrees with me. My Beta can and _will_ find ways around orders he disagrees with. My Third regularly calls me an asshole and is usually right. I'm not the same as Chitakido, Tupkuk, and you won't lump me in with him again. My wolves aren't the ones from Calgary, and I won't have them lumped in with them either. And what faults mine have are on me, but this is the Pack I lead, and I lead it the way I want it led. But you, you abandoned your Pack to monsters and let them become ones themselves. That, Tupkuk, is on you."

"You're a weak leader, a foolish one that makes bad decisions," Tupkuk reminded Jake in an exhausted voice, and Jake leveled him a pointed look.

"_At least my ass still leads_."

Well, there was that. Tupkuk grew silent, and then Paul caught the scent of it on the wind. Tupkuk's shame. Jake sighed and then picked up a pebble of the ground, squeezing it in his closed fist and watching it turn to dust. "Listen, you think I'm the bad guy here, and I think you're the bad guy here. Is it possible that maybe _neither_ of us are the bad guy here?"

"Perhaps it is possible that we both _are_," was the older wolf's mild reply, and Jake snorted.

"I guess the thing is, you've never attacked us," Jake admitted ruefully. "You've interfered, mainly with Paul, but never to our detriment. Don't do that anymore, by the way, it pisses me off."

Tupkuk actually smirked, his smile showing the tips of his teeth as his eyes flickered to Paul. Paul growled back, and found Collin growling in kind. Pup had some balls to growl at an Alpha, especially when that Alpha's gaze made Collin squeak and shift a little closer to Jack.

"But here's the deal," Jake said honestly. "I can't let them go Packless. One, because some of those wolves aren't the types I want anywhere near humans again without being under the control of an Alpha. And two, because it's fucking cruel in the long term. So either I take them, which I don't want, you take them, which you don't want, or we both take them, which I don't think they want. So I guess you have to decide which the worst of two evils is: me being their Alpha, or you being their Alpha."

"I'm starting to find you quite unpleasant, Jacob Black," Tupkuk muttered. Somewhere in the background, a female voice murmured for Tupkuk to join the club, and for once it wasn't Sims.

Jake eyed the other Alpha consideringly. "You know, the sad thing about this shit is that they want you. Look at them man, that one's been practically strangling himself against my hold to get to you, and he has been since you got here."

"His name is Tasi," Tupkuk stated softly, and his gaze finally landed on the dark muzzled wolf. "He is my brother, and once, he was my friend."

"Then maybe you should remember that," Jake said equally softly, and Tupkuk sighed, bowing his head. Tasi whined pitifully, a crying noise that left Paul deeply saddened. He wondered what it would be like for Jake to not want them, when they wanted him as their Alpha so badly. A surge of comfort from Jake. Not going to happen, Paul. Strengthened, Paul continued to kneel, waiting for what his Alpha needed of him next.

"I'm not fit to lead these wolves, Jacob Black," Tupkuk decided with a frown. "The past has proven this."

"And the present's proved that no one else is either," Jake shrugged. "Me, I'm not ready for a Pack this big. And I'm not very comfortable with you having control of them, I think it's a really bad idea, actually. But it's better than them running loose. I've got some pretty pushy people in my head that are agreeing with me here. You need to decide, Tupkuk, before I decide for you."

"You cannot force me to take a Pack, baby-Alpha," Tupkuk said, his eyes gleaming dangerously, and Jake smirked in return.

"Watch me. That control shit worked once on me, I wouldn't recommend trying it again. I might just turn the tables on you."

Tupkuk rose to his feet suddenly, and then with a sigh he lifted his face to the sky, letting out a soft yip. That yip was answered, and his wolfborn appeared, carrying in his hand a fat struggling hare. Hla'o padded over to Seth and Leah, ignoring the snarling wolves all around, and Jake had to hold up his hand to stop Seth from fleeing with Leah. The she-wolf looked a little grossed out when Hla'o happily broke the hare's neck and handed it to her before wandering back to his Alpha. Then again, Leah tended to look like that when someone gave her flowers, too, so maybe it was just her.

The Saskatchewan Alpha sighed heavily, whispered that he didn't want this, and then he took in the Calgary Pack. Paul trembled as he felt this Alpha grow even stronger, although the wolfborn at Tupkuk's side both yawned simultaneously and one seemed about to fall asleep. Tupkuk gave Jake a piercing look. "Trusting a stranger with this much power is risky, Jacob Black," the Alpha said quietly. "There may be a time when you regret having pressed this upon me."

Jake rose to his feet, towering over the older, slimmer man. Jake shrugged. "Yeah, well, there might also be a time when I'm thankful as hell. The decision is made, and the next time you need someone else to push you into doing what you should have been doing a long time ago, feel free to give me a call." Paul shivered, wondering at Jake's strength that he was comfortable mocking a wolf this strong. "Now if you don't mind, my imprint's hurt and my wolf is hurt worse, and we can't move out of Calgary territory just yet. Since we're splitting the blame on this, I'd like to get some supplies brought here, and one of your doctors needs to stay."

The other Alpha nodded, and then his eyes hardened. "Tasi will stay. When your wolf is healed enough to travel, you will have two hours to remove yourself and your Pack. Keep your _kadidu_ at your side, young Alpha. Sometimes dogs that stray off alone get eaten, especially ones that know better than to have ever come out of hiding in the first place."

Jake looked at his Pack, small and exhausted and injured, and then he looked at Tupkuk's now massive Pack. Tasi had crawled to Tupkuk's side, and the older Alpha had a hand resting lightly on the dark wolf's ruff. Back near Brady, Jack was shaking with anger and remorse, having caused his Alpha, once again, problems.

"I think he's better off with us," Jake said lightly. "None of you seem to deserve him. I take it the threats mean we're not allies?"

"As long as the wolf chooses to run with the dogs, than no, Jacob Black, we're not allies." Tupkuk started to turn away, but then he stopped. A tiny smile touched his lips. "But we're not enemies either, at least for now. Please tell your she-wolf that if she feels the desire to change Packs, then to let me know. We'll come fetch her at her leisure."

Jake was still snarling furiously when the new Calgary Pack disappeared. Everyone held still, waiting to see what would happen next, and then suddenly Seth Clearwater laughed.

"Dude, you just gave him a _huge_ Pack. You combined both our enemies into one _bigger_ enemy. Are you fucking _crazy_?"

"Shut up, Seth," Jake muttered, snagged his Beta and his she-wolf back, and giving Seth a dirty look as the Beta continued to laugh. "What, you guys wanted those assholes on the rez? At least if they come looking for us again, we'll know who and what's coming for us."

Unlike her brother, Leah wasn't laughing. Instead as Jake walked up to her, she was looking at a dead hare suspiciously. "Hey guys? Out of curiosity, I'm not engaged to a wolfborn or some shit now, am I? Like, this wasn't some weird mating ritual of the ancestors that I don't know about?" She uncomfortably set the hare down. When its still blood filled muscles twitched, she grimaced and nudged it away with her toe.

Jake smirked but still pulled her she-wolf closer and gazed at his Pack. Bent but not broken. They would be okay.

And at least now they didn't have to call for takeout.

* * *

Nastassja Mirovovna Fedorova had lived a life of leisure. Nastassja Mirovovna Fedorova wasn't particularly interested in giving that up.

It wasn't that Cassie's mother was a bad woman, she wasn't. She loved her husband to distraction, and she loved her daughters nearly as much, but being a loving woman doesn't necessarily mean that one isn't a hard woman. And the last twenty years had made Nastassja Mirovovna Fedorova a hard woman.

Therefore when the limousine pulled into the Fedorov family estate, winding down that long cobblestone drive, Nastassja ignored the beauty of her home. She ignored the trees just going back into bloom, she ignored the still lake and the meticulously maintained gardens, and she ignored the gilded and luxurious three story house that stretched behind her in a sweeping arch. Instead she snapped her cell phone closed and marched down the marble inlaid steps leading from the front doors, her once stunning face twisted in anger. The estate was preparing for a party in just a few hours, an event that Nastassja had been planning for nearly a year in celebration of Ani's approaching eighteenth birthday. The guest list was one of the most elite that Nastassja had ever entertained for, and that was saying a lot.

It was a really bad time for Cassie to step out of Afon Cherkov's limo, her hair and clothes rumpled, her makeup messed up and her feet in…in…

"Ksanochka Ivanovna Fedorova, are those _Uggs_?" Nastassja asked in horror, and as Cassie cringed and looked down at her feet, Afon smoothly slid out of the Mercedes Benz after her. Afon chuckled and squeezed Cassie's hip fondly.

"Look what I found, Nastassja," Afon said with a charming smile. "She looks a little bit worse for the wear, don't you think? You'd think our Ksana had been off playing in the dirt with the American natives."

Cassie went stiff at that, and Afon chuckled again, a little darkly. Nastassja however wasn't amused, and she grabbed Cassie's wrist, dragging her away from the car and up towards the house. Cassie had to half jog to keep up.

"I cannot believe you, Ksanochka!" Nastassja snapped the moment they were inside the walls of their home. Cassie didn't have a chance to admire this place, the one she had so many good memories in, because instead of being able to greet the old things so loved by her, Cassie found herself being hustled down the hallway and into the nearest sitting room. Nastassja closed the doors behind them and she spun around, marching over to a chest of drawers and pulling out a small sewing kit. In it was a tape measure, and Cassie stood there almost uncertainly as Nastassja started measuring her waist and chest with quick unhappy motions.

"Now? You had to choose _now_ to come home looking like _this_?" Nastassja continued to fume. "We have only three hours until the guests arrive, the caterer messed up half the hors d'oeuvres, and now my drunken Americanized wayward daughter has shown up on the doorstep, dressless and fat. You couldn't have waited just _one single day_?"

"Mother?" Cassie tried to stop her mother's tirade by touching the older woman's arm. "Mother, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I should have called. But things…some things happened…"

"With you, Ksana, things _always_ happen," Nastassja wasn't accepting reasons or excuses, not today. "I've been telling you for _months_ that you are needed back here, that your family needs you to step up and accept your responsibilities, but all I get is answering machines and changed cell phone numbers. At least Cherkov seems to always have your new numbers, because honestly, without him I'd never be able to track you down. But you ignore me and you ignore your father, and you find the most inopportune time-"

"Syestra!" Cassie was saved by her sister's delighted cry, and she turned her head to see Ani coming running into the room greet her. Ani was already dressed for the party in a deep green gown, demurely accessorized in diamond and emeralds at her ears and wrists. Her hair had been swept up into an artfully arranged mass of curls that must have taken Nastassja hours to do, and running anywhere was asking to lose the entire thing down her back. Personally Cassie thought her sister's hair had always looked prettier down. When it was up, it only showed just how hard her mother made them all try.

"Ania!" Nastassja said sharply, and Ani dropped immediately down to a quick walk, but then she leapt at Cassie, crushing her.

"Syestra," Ani gasped, sounding truly delighted. "I'm so glad you're here. I was so worried about you after the party, and I wanted to see you, but Koldan insisted we come home right away-."

"Enough, Ani," Nastassja said, although her voice softened as her youngest's smile was turned her way. "We have to find your sister a dress to wear, and apparently…" Nastassja looked down at the tape measure and gave Cassie a scathing look. "She has deemed it necessary to make sure she is a size _two_."

"Two's not that bad," Cassie mumbled, looking at her sister for help as their mother re-measured Cassie, making her suck in all of Little Red's parts, just in case they could leave some by the road. Ani gave her a sympathetic smile as Cassie added a little hopefully, "I have been told that I'm a waif, and that I look better like this."

"Well now you're a fat waif," Nastassja grouched, giving up. "What have you been doing, living on gummy worms and alcohol alone?"

"I have sex too," Cassie retorted, unable to stop herself. "I think the copious amounts of sex have been adding to my waistline. Yesterday in the airport, I must have gain three pounds from sex alone."

Ani snickered, but then bit her lower lip to cover when Nastassja gave them both an angry look. "As if anyone in this family can go anywhere and _not_ hear about your _exploits_, Ksana," her mother stated, sounding humiliated and angry in equal measures. "You're lucky that Cherkov's taken such an interest in you, or you'd have been disowned months ago. Now stay here, I'm going to have Sven bring us all of his _two's_, and we'll find something for you to wear. Stay here, clean up, and for goodness sake, _don't_ eat anything."

With that Nastassja strode out, the door slamming closed behind her.

"Welcome home, Ksanochka," Cassie said softly, sadly, and Ani put her arms around her sister.

"She doesn't mean it," Ani whispered, hugging Cassie close. "She's just unhappy. Her and father have been fighting a lot, something about a secret you and she kept from him, and he'll barely speak to her too." Then suddenly Ani laughed, her eyes sparkling. "But _I_ for one think you're even _more_ beautiful like this. You have a butt now, syestra."

Cassie couldn't help but smile in return, and then she was hugging Ani back as hard as she could. "I've been trying to grow one, it started to hurt sitting down without one."

Ani giggled, and then was dragged away by a maid who had to fix her makeup. Ani's makeup was fine, so Cassie assumed it was her mother's way of keeping her from corrupting Ani too much while Nastassja was gone. Having nothing else to do and a little ashamed at the way everyone stared at her as if she looked a mess, Cassie slipped up the stairs to where her old room used to be.

It was red. Cassie had never thought about it before, not even all those times that Paul would nuzzle at her red lingerie, his caramel eyes sparkling as he saw she was trying to wear the color he liked the most. And here she was, thousands of miles away, not knowing if he was okay or not, and her room was red. Her walls, her bedding, her pillows. The irony of it made Cassie laugh a little as she sat gingerly down on the bed, her bruised side hurting after the long trip. Cassie checked her phone for the hundredth time, but no Paul.

There had used to be pictures in here, but someone had taken them down. Oh, that's right. It was Cassie herself. She had taken down the pictures of her as she danced, poster sized photographs of her life, the way it had been, those wonderful moments of losing herself to the music and knowing nothing else but the way dancing made her feel so alive. She had always vibrated with an energy, a life that couldn't be shoved down, she had been something. Something to the world, something to her family, something to herself. But now she was nothing, nothing at all. And the day she realized that she had nothing left, she had stripped this room of everything but the color red. She had wanted to paint it white, the color of emptiness, but something had stopped her. Red was better, Little Red with nothing left, wondering if she was going to ever find another fairy tale that wanted her.

Fingering the rubber band on her finger, she knew now that it wasn't true. She wasn't nothing. She was more than an empty room, more than a color, more than a has been. She wasn't Ksanochka, the Bolshoi dancer who had danced until she had nothing left. She wasn't Ksana, the disappointment to her family, the one who would never agree to what they needed from her. She wasn't Cassie, the Russian whore, the fucked up imprint, the one that made Collin worry and Paul cringe.

No, she was Cass. Paul's Cass, and she was stronger than this. And when Cassie was still in her towel and Nastassja came back in, a two thousand dollar dress over her arm and a frown on her face, Cassie was stronger than that too. She could handle disapproval, her mother was unkind, but she was still a good woman who didn't truly understand. It wasn't Nastassja's fault.

The bruise on Cassie's side had turned black and blue, and Nastassja looked at it for a long moment before zipping up Cassie's dress without saying a word. Finally, her mother turned to her and opened her mouth. Then she shut it again. "He's an important man to the family, Ksana," was all Nastassja said before the older woman left, proving something that Cassie had always tried not to prove. Her mother knew exactly what Afon had been doing all this time. She thought the bruising was from Afon in the car, she thought that horribleness had happened today.

Cassie's eyes filled with tears as Paul's glue started to give.

* * *

Jack guarded Brady, as he was ordered, until Jake told him he could move.

The ancient wolf phased, once again miserably lost inside his head, but this time Jack didn't run. This time Jack stayed right where he was, his brindle's head across his Alpha's lap. This time Jack stayed, because as selfish as it was, a single moment with the Alpha's hand on his head felt better than five lifetimes of guilt ever had. This time Jack stayed because he had a Pack that needed him, and that was...that was…a soft whine, followed by a fond shake of his ruff. It didn't matter to the Alpha _why_. All that mattered was that Jack stayed where he belonged.

As so he did.

* * *

The estate was beautiful.

Outside the sweeping grounds were immaculate, but it couldn't compare to the inside of the Fedorov family home. The crystal chandeliers sparkled under the warm light glowing from candles everywhere, soft music from the string band in the corner drifted over top of the assembled guests, and exquisitely tasteful decorations graced tables and walls, all themed for this coming out party. Cassie's mother was one of those women who paid attention to every detail, and so there was nothing out of place. Not a speck of dust, not a hint of uncleanliness. The wooden floors gleamed, the walls were freshly scrubbed, and even the wooden banisters leading from the second story down into the front foyer were shining. Everything was perfect for the presentation of their soon to be legally aged daughter, and as Ani moved about the party shyly on her father's arm, smiling sweetly at everyone she met, Moscow's elite watched her with appreciative eyes. Ania Fedorova was everything a young woman of wealth and prestige should be.

And then there was the other daughter.

Cassie was quite aware that she was the black sheep here, was quite aware of the eyes that slid over her and quickly glanced away as she moved through the crowded rooms. She heard whispers, soft comments held not quite soft enough on purpose. Had she really turned down Cherkov's proposal? She had, much to her family's humiliation. Had she really fled to the States, spending her family's money like it was nothing, drinking and sexing like a playgirl? Someone had heard that she could barely walk these days, and it sparked a series of snickers. No, no, a kind voice disagreed. That was because she had hurt herself so badly when dancing, didn't anyone remember how beautiful she had used to look when dancing for Bolshoi? It was a shame she had to quit. Well, _they_ heard that she was _forced_ to quit, after all, everyone knew that the Fedorova women spent so much of their time in other men's beds that they forgot to pay their _own_ men's bills. Were they sure that Ksanochka's legs had given out or was it her back?

There were more giggles, and then silence as Cassie drifted closer, took a glass of champagne that was offered to her, and then sipped at it before shifting away. Well they heard that she was nothing but a whore, and her father was on the edge of disowning her, and thank goodness for Cherkov, because Afon had singlehandedly kept this family from ruin. Ksanochka should thank her lucky stars that man still wanted her. Had anyone noticed that she had gotten _horribly_ fat?

Cassie closed her eyes, her diamond encrusted jewelry sparkling about her neck, a collar to a life she had always known until Paul. God, she missed him. God, she prayed that he was okay.

It wasn't that Cassie didn't care about what was being said about her, it was just that she had become used to it. She had known what would happen when she resumed a place near this circle of prestige, and Cassie had always been unwilling to participate in the breaking down of others. She had never been popular in these circles, because she refused to hurt others for her own entertainment. It had been something her father had been so proud about. At least none of the comments were aimed Ani's way, because thankfully Ani's shyness, so obviously uncontrived, had a charming quality to it. In another year or two, Cassie's beloved sister would be equal game, but for now everyone smiled at her as she passed by, even Cassie. Ani mouthed "help me" to Cassie, which made her grin, but that grin slipped as their father's eyes flickered briefly over Cassie and then immediately away again. He still hadn't spoken to her. But then again, her father hadn't spoken to her in in over a year now. It wasn't surprising.

"They're like vipers," a low voice muttered sourly behind her shoulder, and Cassie gave Koldan an amused look as he added, "She should never have been subjected to this."

"Ani can hold her own," Cassie said with a touch of a smile, raising her champagne flute back to her lips. She recognized this brand, it had her father's name on it and Afon's money behind it, and like so many things it only tied the two tighter. The sweetness turned bitter in her mouth but she drank it anyways.

"Ani's not you, Ksana," Koldan replied in a hard voice, his hand touching her elbow and guiding her slightly away from the crowds. She saw the speculative looks being given their way, and Cassie smirked up at Koldan.

"You know that it'll be the talk of the town tomorrow that you bedded me within hours of me coming home, don't you?" Cassie chuckled, but Koldan gave the assembly a harsh look that made eyes jerk away. "You're almost as good as Paul at that," she said softly, her body once again reminding her that her soul was somewhere else, and that she was a half when she needed to be a whole.

"Your Paul's in danger," Koldan turned and spoke quietly in her ear. "Afon wasn't convinced that you and the American are not together, and he was able to obtain security footage of you two in the airport you originally came from. He knows you are sleeping with the American, and he saw the footage of Paul proposing to you. It was foolish, Ksana, you knew better."

Cassie closed her eyes again, because Little Red didn't like grandma's house, she needed to flee far far away into the forest.

"What can I do?" she opened her eyes again, now wet with unshed tears. "What can I do to keep him safe?"

"I don't know, Ksana," Koldan shook his head, given her a frustrated look. "Everything I do is only undone, half the time before I get it in motion. And the longer you run from him, the more he enjoys the chase. I've kept him distracted as long as I can, but he's turning your father's ear against me, and I don't have the sway I used to. At this point none of us are safe, and your Paul is only one of many. The only weakness I know that Cherkov has is you."

Cassie sipped at her glass and gave Koldan a tiny smirk. "You could always kidnap me and ransom me to him, the cost being us all having our lives back. Do you think he would pay up?"

Koldan's hard eyes softened, and then he looked away, his face troubled. "Ksana, there's something that you could do, but I don't want to ask you to do it. It'll hurt you."

"It's not like I haven't been offered up for sacrifice before," Cassie murmured sadly, catching her mother's piercing gaze. She and Afon were watching her and Koldan intently, the older woman whispering something in Afon's ear, her face apologetic. Cassie winked at them and downed her glass of champagne like it was a shot. Her mother glared at her, but Afon merely raised his glass and toasted her from across the room. He started walking their way, so Koldan spoke quickly in her ear.

"He's been using your father's flat near the Kremlin to run his business out of lately. I can't get in, only his own men are there guarding it, but I know he keeps some of his business documentation in the safe in his study. If someone can gather the right evidence against him, we can blackmail him out of our lives the way he blackmailed his way into them."

"He'll know what I'm doing," Cassie whispered back, her eyes locked on Afon's, a shiver going through her body at even considering this.

Koldan nodded but said, "Yes, but he won't think you'll succeed, and it'll amuse him to watch you try. I'm sorry, Ksana, I don't have any other way, and you don't have to do this. It's just the only idea I have. I've tried to slip women in there before, but they never…" he trailed off unhappily and Cassie's eyes hardened.

"They never come out the same again, do they?" she stated unhappily. Koldan just looked at her, and there was a time when he would have hugged her, told her everything would be okay because he was there. His whole life was protecting her and her family, but things change. People change. Koldan had chosen sides because he had to, not because he wanted to, and Cassie would never blame him for that. Things were never easy, not the way they should be.

Easy was lying curled up against Paul's chest, his large warm hand on her hip as she counted his heartbeats. Easy was Paul's mouth moving slowly across her shoulder, memorizing every detail, because she was his. His imprint. His fiancé. His whole world. And she was considering climbing in bed with a monster, her own personal monster, to save him. Betrayal came in a lot of different ways, but Cassie knew that she would rather betray a man she loved and keep him safe, than let him get hurt because of her rigid moral code. She had seen where that led. Cassie's father, as if hearing her thoughts, glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, watching her and Koldan. He knew they were up to something, in this world there was no point in hiding it. They were _all_ up to something.

And then Koldan was forced to step away at a flicker of Afon's hand, slipping through the crowds and leaving her alone with the devil. Always always alone.

"Are you having a nice time, my dear?" Afon asked smoothly, handing her another glass of champagne. Cassie cringed as their fingers touched, because heaven only knew how much blood was on his hands.

"Adequate," Cassie came back, her instinctive walls slamming up around her so high that she couldn't help what she said any more than she could help what she felt. "It's a bit stifling, to be honest, I think someone needs to take these people outside and let them air out a bit. The conversations are musty, and not nearly as interesting as they used to be. Honestly, my willingness to shun you and wrap my legs around everyone else's hips was more _last_ season, don't you think?"

There was silence around them as the offended socialites realized she had publically humiliated her family and her suitor in one statement. Afon's eyes flashed oh so dangerously, but Cassie was angry. She was scared but she was angry, because this man had ruined everything. _Everything_.

"America has left you jaded, darling," Afon stated smoothly after only a hint of a pause. "One would think you had left something behind you would rather be with, instead of enjoying our company."

Point to Afon.

"Apparently there is nothing to be enjoyed that doesn't have your abject approval, Afon," Cassie countered. "I gained a dress size, much to the world's dismay. Perhaps I should have left my waist in the States to be _disapproved_ upon too?"

Point to Cassie.

"You make me out to be a monster, Ksana," Afon replied in a mildly offended voice. "I haven't seen you in a year, and all you have is insults?"

"You make me out to be an insult, Afon, when after a year, all you have is being a monster." She smirked and raised her champagne flute to him. "Despite my utter disregard for you, and considering my complete lack of other options, perhaps I'll have to take you up on your offers after all. Even Frankenstein was allowed a bride."

Cassie for the win. With a low snarl, Afon stepped in closer, his mouth by her ear and his voice dangerously lowered. "You would do well to watch your tongue, Ksanochka. Some parts can be more easily removed than others."

"I'm sure when you're forcing me to suck you off later, you'll appreciate it," she stated back, loud enough for everyone trying to pretend they were listening in to hear better. "Again, something not nearly as fun, knowing that I've done it willingly a hundred times since you. In fact, I would willingly blow everyone here, male or female, everyone _but_ you. You've taken my family, you've taken my career, and you've taken my lover. You've even taken my hiding spot, since going back there will just get everyone that I cared about hurt. So congratulations, Afon, you're the proud owner of a broken down, _far_ overridden mare. Feel free to tuck me into your stables anytime."

She downed this glass of champagne and left him there, seething. A roll of panic ripped through her, and then another, and then a third as she moved through the beautifully dressed people. She would not fall apart, she would not fall apart, _she would not fall apart_. And then she was in the far bathrooms, where none of the guests were likely to come, one of Koldan's men outside to guard her from being too alone, even in her own home. Only it wasn't home. Home was someone else, somewhere smaller, somewhere safer. Somewhere that she wasn't crying because she was scared for Paul and scared for herself and scared for her family.

Cassie had said what she needed to, to distract Afon from Paul, to keep his attention firmly on her. He thought she was giving up, although doing it viciously, and even though she would suffer from her words tonight, she would win. This was why Roman and she had decided to have her come back to Russia, because Afon was a busy man. If he had the chance to play with her in public as opposed to private, than he would focus on other things in private. Men and their toys. Dangerous men and their broken toys. But Paul was her weakness, her world, and she would do whatever she had to, to keep him safe.

Cassie was bent over the trashcan, retching as Nastassja Mirovovna Fedorova came striding in. Nastassja locked the ornate door behind her and gave Cassie an unreadable look. She was what Cassie would be in another twenty years, short and blonde and that mature kind of beauty. The kind of woman that could still turn heads, even if there were small lines of worry permanently etched into her face. But Cassie hoped that she never was her mother. She loved her mother, but she never wanted to be her.

This decision was solidified as Nastassja ignored Cassie completely, instead setting her clutch down on the counter and riffled through it as Cassie finished emptying her stomach and staggered to the sink. She rinsed out her mouth and spat several times before risking a glance in the mirror at her mother. Nastassja gave her tired look and dropped something down on the counter next to them, and then set down a small compact mirror. She started fiddling with both as Cassie watched, looking sicker than she had been a moment ago.

"I know you're miserable, and I know that your life hasn't turned out how you would have wanted, Ksanochka," Nastassja said in an expressionless voice. "But you're not the only one. We gave you everything you wanted, years of sinking our fortune into your dancing, and we held off Afon's attentions until then. But you're an adult now, you have no career, and the family is still in crisis, a crisis that you yourself have only increased. We have Ani's future to consider, and now it's your turn to help shoulder the burden. For a year we've allowed you to make a fool of us and yourself in the States, but when you are here, you will behave as though you are not this family's shame."

Cassie cringed, and then bowed her head. Her mother leaned down, and when she came back up, she sniffed delicately and wiped the corner of her nose. "That man out there is bad, but allowing your selfishness to cause your family to become destitute is worse. So you will go out there, you will show your good breeding, you will treat Cherkov with respect, and you will do _everything_ in your power to stay in his good graces. Or you will remove yourself from here immediately, Ksana, because Ani doesn't need to see the depths you have lowered yourself to."

"Mother, he's not just a bad man…" Cassie started to say in a choked voice, but she was cut off by Nastassja's glare.

"No, he is also a rich man," Nastassja stated, leaning down again to the counter. Then she straightened and stepped behind Cassie, her hands on Cassie's shoulders as they stood there looking in the mirror. A touch of softness, of regret lingered in the older blonde's eyes. "You're beautiful, Ksana, but you won't be forever. That's why for now, you're so important to us. Ani is too young, and I'm too old, and Cherkov's continued interest in you has kept us from ruin. I understand this isn't what you wanted, and I wish things were different for you, but they aren't. It's time you stopped running and accept the proposal. Your father will be happier, and I know you've missed him."

Ivan Fedorov hadn't spoken to his daughter in nearly a year. At a time in Cassie's life, she would have done anything to get her father's love back, because she loved him so very much in turn. But there was a voice, deep and rumbling in her ear, and it was telling Cassie this was bullshit. She'd always known it was, but it was different when you knew someone else believed that too.

Cassie stood up taller and wiped at her eyes. Her mother squeezed her shoulders and gestured to the small bag on the counter.

"I'll leave the rest for you," Nastassja said softly, "I know how it used to help."

"I don't do that anymore," Cassie whispered in return, and her mother gave her a disbelieving look. Cassie gritted her teeth. "You _know_ how hard it was for me to quit."

"And after tonight you can quit again," her mother decided sharply, her hands falling away. "Just do what it takes to get ahold of yourself, and not be that…_thing_ that you were out there."

"I won't," Cassie shook her head, unwilling to do this. A year ago, hell a few months ago not too long before she had met Paul, Cassie would have done as her mother had without thinking a thing about it.

"Why must you insist on making everything worse, Ksana?" Nastassja hissed, and Cassie wheeled on her, shoving her bag back in her hands.

"Because I'm _not_ going to be the fucked up imprint anymore," Cassie snapped back in English. And then she fled, out the bathroom, down the hall and away from the people and the things that she didn't want anymore. Paul was right, this was stupid to come here. She should have told him, she should have told him everything, she just thought she could handle this, she could protect him. But Paul knew Cassie wasn't protection, that was why he had sent her away. She was a silly, stupid girl.

Cassie slipped into her old room, making a beeline for her phone, praying that Paul had called her. She couldn't call him until he called her, and she snatched up her cell, scrolling through the history. No Paul. Cassie let out a soft pained noise and sank down onto her bed. She couldn't feel him, hadn't been able to feel him since she had left American soil, and even though she had known she loved him, Cassie had never truly understood how much she _needed_ him.

And Cassie needed him now. She needed his hands on her skin, his arms around her body, his strength behind her soul. She needed that steady solid presence, and even as she tried to cling to that, the door opened. It was Afon. It was a very angry Afon. And Little Red might be in love with the Big Bad Wolf, but there was nothing either of them could do because the Hunter was too close and the wolf too far away, and no one but them had ever cared about a rubber band anyways. God, Cassie was so damn _stupid_.

Downstairs, Koldan stood guard by a small slender girl, his hand on his gun, his heart in his stomach, thinking that all he needed was one slip. One chance, one opening and Koldan would take this fucker down and rid his family of them forever. Between him and Ksana, Koldan thought that they just might be able to do it. Downstairs, Koldan was thanking his lucky stars that Ani wasn't Ksana, because Ksana had something that Ani never would, and Koldan wasn't any better than the rest of them. He would exploit that part of Ksana, that strength, and he would fix this, even at the cost of a girl that mattered to him. He would never have been able to do to Ani what they were doing to Ksana.

Downstairs it occurred to Koldan that if Ksana's Paul ever found out about this, there was going to be hell to pay.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon, and even though the skies were overcast and dark, Samantha couldn't sleep. Tasi, the Calgary doctor had warned her that that might happen, not that he had been nearly as forthcoming now that he wasn't Jake's own Pack anymore. Her muscles kept cramping and twisting themselves around each other, making her so uncomfortable that she could barely bite down on her curses. But you see, it was okay, because Embry was there.

His long strong body wrapped around her was entirely worth it.

They had been given tents for her and Brady, with the rest of the Pack stretched out outside and close enough that Samantha could have touched the tent fabric and felt a wolf's knee or back. They had tightened up protectively, and even the most exhausted could barely doze. The wolf next to her was just as awake as she was, not that Samantha minded in the least. Embry was just as warm as he had ever been, his hands just as gentle as he massaged her limbs, his heat and his attentions easing the pain as much as possible. He was like a big sexy aspirin and the thought of him in pill form made her smile. Embry's nose in her neck tickled as he smiled in return against her skin.

"There it is," he murmured to her in his deep rumbling voice, "I haven't seen your smile in much too long, sweetheart."

Samantha glanced back at him. Turning was hard, her muscles had been far too abused for her to do much more than lay beneath the weight of Embry's arm and allow him to position her as he wished. Seeing that she wanted to look at him, Embry lifted himself up on his forearms and shifted overtop of her, sliding to her other side. It was a lot of effort to go to when he could have just turned her, and it made her smile again. Embry's eyes were different, but the curve of his lips was the same, the look in his eyes the same as he gazed down at her. She would have been okay without the worry in them, but then again, she had been worried to death about him too.

"We're two peas in one really messed up pod, Embry," Samantha decided, her voice coming out roughened, and he responded by wrapping around her again. They were working on clothes for her, but she and Embry had the privacy of a tent, and she wasn't ashamed of her nudity in front of him. In fact the sweatshirt had been removed in favor of his hot skin against hers, and although he was obviously disturbed by the cuts and bruises across her form, he still held her just as tightly as she needed him to, as long as she needed him to.

To be honest, right now, Samantha would be okay with him never letting her go.

"Normal pods are overrated," he replied in a gentle voice, and he brushed his nose across her cheek. Embry hadn't kissed her yet, had kept his hands to himself even as they massaged her cramping away, and if Samantha hadn't known by the hardening of his body against her thigh or that hungry look in his eyes, she would have thought him merely comforting a friend. Embry and Samantha weren't just friends. They would never be just friends, no matter where life took them. Maybe that's why they had dragged themselves and their Pack through such hell trying to fight to stay together. Samantha tried to turn her head, inviting him closer with her body posture, and even as Embry responded and leaned closer, he still hesitated and pulled back. The hand on her hip stilled, then went back to rubbing gently.

She wondered if she somehow disgusted him now. She looked like hell and knew it, but that didn't make his rejection hurt any less. It was hard to bear on top of everything else, and the day she had survived slipped over her, dragging her down into a dark place that she refused to go. A place Embry was hell bent on not letting her go. As her expression changed, he growled softly and shifted as if trying to get even closer. She wanted closer. Closer was better, closest was best.

"Please sweetheart, please don't look like that," Embry pleaded quietly, taking her face in his large palm and stroking her jaw with his thumb. "Everything's okay. You're safe now, and we'll keep you that way. I _promise_."

"Embry? Not to sound really needy here, but could you…could we…" she drifted off, and he sucked in a tight breath. Against her belly now, she could feel his rock hard response to that, but the man himself stayed in place, stayed soft against the rest of her.

"Sims…I don't think it's a good idea," he told her softly. "After what happened to you…baby, I want to get you some counseling first, talk to someone. I can't…I won't do that to you until you've had a chance to come to terms with things. But I want to, and when you're ready, sweetheart, I'm here. I'm always going to be here."

"Again, not to be pushy, but I'm pretty sure I'm ready now, Embry," Samantha looked up at his mottled eyes, thinking they were still beautiful. Different, but beautiful. "Is it because I look so bad?" she asked in a smaller voice, and his mouth paused instead of crashing down against her lips the way he had started to do. He hung there, wanting to kiss her, but not moving. Samantha winced as she tried to wrap her arms around his neck to pull him closer, and Embry didn't miss it. He cursed and buried his face against her breast, his arms trembling slightly as he hauled her up even closer.

"You're so fucking beautiful, I can't _breathe_ when I look at you, Samantha," Embry growled against her bruised skin. "But that fucker…what he did to you…I wanted to break every fucking bone in his body, and I think I managed most of them. But I know that it doesn't take it back. I know what those Calgary wolves said, but I'm not stupid. I know why you were naked when you came out of that cave, and I'm not going to push myself on you, no matter how badly I want you. You're our mate and we're not hurting you further."

He did that sometimes, talking in plural, but Samantha was so damn glad to have him back that she didn't let herself do anything but accept it, accept him. This was Embry, and he had accepted the worst in her, even if he may not remember it anymore. Wait, what did he just say?

"You think he raped me?" Samantha asked in confusion, and Embry snarled this time, unable to stop himself. But he nodded against her breast. Samantha closed her eyes and ran her fingers through his hair, sighing. It was so shaggy he'd have to get a haircut soon so he wouldn't end up tripping on his own coat when he patrolled. "No, baby. That was the one thing he didn't do. I thought because they were making Brady watch you would've known."

It took a moment for that to sink in, and it didn't pass her ears that outside the tent, several of the wolves exhaled. Embry was so relieved that he had a hard time pulling himself together, but her muscles cramped up again, really badly, and it took a while for her to be able to uncurl from the ball she was in. She could feel Jake hovering in the back of her belly, worried, and she tried to give the impression of being okay. His disbelief was tangible, but eventually Embry's competent hands eased her pain and left her limp against his chest. There were worse places to be. This time when she lifted her face to his, he did kiss her, a soft kiss that grew more heated as he rolled her over onto her back, his body over hers, between her and the world. Better. This was better.

"We saw, but Brady fell apart and we only heard his reactions," Embry finally growled against her jaw. "We pieced it together, but someday I want you to tell me. I need to know what happened to you, I need to be here for you."

"You are," she hushed him, and Embry's mouth found hers again. She wondered if she still tasted like blood, but he made a soft noise that said no matter what she tasted like, he still loved her. That was good. That was really good. And because she would rather get this over with now, when she was still wounded and raw and somewhat numbed, Samantha told him. She knew the others could hear, but they would learn anyways. It was better to just do it like this. She glossed over the drowning stuff because her mind was still struggling with that, but she told him how the Beta had hurt her and where. Embry listened, his mouth and hands loving on every part that had been treated unkindly. There were a lot of parts, and she wondered if he was hiding his face from her to hide his anger or the moisture leaking from his eyes.

But it wasn't easy, because the more Samantha tried to explain, the fuzzier and contradictory her explanation became. She remembered having the Beta step on her ribs and break them, but the Calgary wolves had declared them merely bruised. Her left hand was bandaged where they had ripped three of her fingernails off, but she had thought they had done it to her right hand too, but her un-bandaged right hand was fine. She remembered the knife being used more, but her body was covered with a multitude of shallow cuts instead of deep ones. Embry told her he thought maybe the leech venom was part of the problem, the Calgary wolves admitted that they used it at the Alpha's orders, but they normally diluted it with ink or water. Hers had been diluted with an adrenaline increasing drug that was intended to keep her conscious through the pain. Modern drugs and the leech venom had unpredictable and sometimes very bad reactions. She was lucky she was lucid at all.

Deep inside Samantha wondered if maybe he was wrong, but she was too confused, too sore, too exhausted to argue. She just wanted Embry, and she wanted to sleep, and she wanted to feel safe. But mostly she wanted Embry. The soft push of comfort from Jake before he closed down on the imprint bond to give her more privacy was nice. What was nicer was that this time, when she tugged Embry down to her, he came willingly.

He loved on her slowly, carefully, softly. It was different for her, because Embry was a very passionate man when it came to them being together, and that passion had only grown more heated with time. She was used to being hauled around to different positions, his gentle touch relentless in giving her pleasure. He would break her down and build her up until she was writhing and nearly screaming in his arms, and only then would he let her have her release. Only when she was exhausted and completely satiated did the lovemaking slow down, only when she was tried or worried or sad was it tender instead of fiery. So she was utterly unprepared for the lover that Embry could be when loving on someone he had been so scared he would lose.

They had to stop a couple times, figure out ways around the discomfort, and more than once Embry declared that they needed to wait for another time. But Samantha learned her lessons well. Make the most out of what you have the moment you have it, and in this moment she finally had Embry back and she wasn't giving him up for anything. He sank inside of her like he was made to be there, and even through his thrusts were so gentle, just the easiest rocking of his hips, it still made her arch up and clamp down on him _hard_. It had only been a few days, but it was a few days too long, and Embry must have felt the same way. Instead of lasting for a long time like normal, he was already quivering with the effort to hold himself back, and when she cried out his name softly, Embry barely managed to pull out in time. His love across her hipbone, because he wasn't making the same mistake twice, but it would have been nicer inside of her. Samantha wanted to be Embry's, through and through.

Half scared the exertion would have caused more muscle cramping, Samantha was relieved that instead of pain, a lazy pleasure filled her body, leaving her pliable against her lover. Unwilling to wipe him off of her, Samantha waited until Embry dragged his thumb over her hip, cleaning her off. He was surprised when she pulled his thumb to her mouth, but he made a satisfied sound in his throat and curled back around her. Embry's fingers stroked up and down her spine, careful to avoid the worst of her bandaged cuts, and then they buried in her short hair.

"I look like Leah, now, huh?" Samantha sighed, and Embry chuckled.

"There are worse things," he promised. "Plus Seth and Leah have declared you an honorary Clearwater, so it only makes sense. By the way, I've been given one night and one night only, and then they are barging in here to be with you. Seth said one night of molesting you was all I was allowed." Embry smiled softly at that and Samantha stuck out her tongue.

"He could have waited until afterwards, you know, his timing really is horrible."

"You heard him?" Embry seemed surprised. "Seth was being really quiet."

Samantha just yawned and snuggled closer. "You know, I don't feel as bad as I would have thought, especially not now. Maybe Embry spooge is the cure for vampire venom. Prepare yourself, we've got a whole lot of people to save."

"With my dick?" he smirked, and outside the tent someone snorted.

"Shuddup, Paul," Samantha said to the Third, who was standing guard not to far away. Embry winked at her, and then he settled into kissing every single inch of her hand, down to her bandaged fingertips. Samantha felt her body react to the contact, wondering how she had always been so oblivious to her body's pull toward Embry. She sighed and curled in tighter. Much much better. "Embry it was awful," she lamented, loudly enough that she was sure all the wolves could hear. "There was this Winnebago, and Paul hit me in the face with his balls, and I think a squirrel's trying to assassinate me."

"I'll eat him," Embry promised her, back to nuzzling her breast and pressing his ear against her heart, listening to her heartbeat.

"Which one, the squirrel or Paul?"

"The squirrel," Embry said a little louder. "Paul's getting married now, so he's got bigger problems."

"You know Emb, you didn't really have to bust that shit out, you know," Paul grumbled unhappily, and Embry smirked viciously.

"Hey, don't blame me if the great Paul Coho got down on his knees and begged Cass to marry him a mere couple months into his imprint," Embry continued relentlessly. "I heard it was beautiful. He gave her a rubber band and everything."

"Dude, you proposed to Cass with a rubber band? That's so…"

"Say 'gay' Collin, and you're cut off."

"Cut off from what?" Seth snickered, "Your fridge or your soft squishy man love?" Paul growled and called Seth something not very nice in Quileute and Samantha winked at Embry.

"See what you started?" she said, and Embry nodded, pleased.

"Teach him to hit _my_ girl in the face with his balls," Embry growled in mock anger. Samantha chuckled, and then, despite what the Calgary wolves had said, she tucked her face into Embry's chest and fell asleep.

_They were going to kill him._

She came awake screaming, and the sad thing was, she had only been asleep a few minutes. A few precious minutes, where Embry had whispered how thankful he was to anyone and anything that was listening that he had her back. A few precious minutes when he had gathered the blanket around her slender form, so beaten and damaged that he was sick over it, and tucked her in tightly. _His_. And kinda Jake's too, but still his. A few precious minutes to settle into a light doze, light enough to come awake if even a squirrel, or maybe especially a squirrel, scuttled by.

She came awake screaming, not small cries of fear, but panicked fighting that had her out of his arms and half out of the tent. She wasn't screaming for Embry, she wasn't screaming for Jake. No, she was screaming for Brady, and she was kicking and fighting like hell to get away from Embry as he snatched her up off the ground outside the tent, the blanket still caught around her legs and hips.

"Samantha! Samantha, you're okay!" Embry told her, his voice sharp as he tried to cut through her panic. He was amazed that she was able to clock him in the jaw that hard. And then thankfully Jake was there, he had been off to the far side of the camp speaking softly with Leah, but the second he heard her screaming, Jake was running their way. Embry wasn't stupid, he knew the power of imprint bonds. He also knew she was about to hurt herself even more, and he couldn't stand that. Embry all but dumped Samantha into Jake's arms, but her screams didn't lesson.

"Brady! _Brady_!" His name was followed by a shriek, so furiously agonized that it pulled the semi-conscious red wolf awake and he phased instinctively, nearly taking off Collin's hand in the process and shredding the tent he and Collin were in. Collin made the mistake of trying to pin Brady down, and the wolf went nuts, completely nuts. Samantha was still screaming, although she was hyperventilating from her panic, and that smell of her fear sent the red wolf into a tailspin. Brady barreled through Collin and slammed into Jake and Embry, sending all four into a pile. In the most impressive phase any of them had ever seen, Brady phased mid fall, jerked Samantha out of Jake's arms, and stumbled backwards, her pulled behind him and snarling from his human throat. He looked like wild animal cornered and injured, and everyone froze.

"Brady," Seth started to say, and Brady staggered, going down on his knees and taking Samantha down with him. Jake took a step forward and Brady, seeing an Alpha coming his way, whined and flattened himself, trying to keep the softly sobbing Samantha beneath him.

"Please don't hurt her," Brady whispered, looking lost and confused and oh so frightened. "_Please don't hurt her anymore_…"

Jake eased himself to the ground in front of Brady, then motioned for the rest of his Pack to get down as well. Unthreatening.

"No one will hurt her anymore. You saved her, remember, Brady?" Jake said soothingly. "But you need to wake up, Brady, because my imprint's naked in the dirt, and she's too hurt for that."

It seemed enough to get through to him, and Brady shuddered and realized where he was. Then he made a noise of apology in his throat and tried to pick her up off the ground, but it wasn't very coordinated, and Brady only managed to hike her halfway up his lap. Then Embry and Jake were there, Embry lifting up Samantha and carrying her back to the tent, Leah at his heels, and Brady face down in Jake's lap, making a soft keening noise like an injured animal.

Jake would stay like that with him for hours until Brady had the ability to wipe his eyes off and stagger back to his own tent, now a shredded piece of fabric. He wouldn't accept any help and sniffed a couple times as he tried to gather the shredded tent into something to lay on top of. Then Collin padded up in wolf form and dropped down at Brady's side, Seth at his heels. Finding himself squished between Collin and a now phased Seth, the young man shivered back into fevered dreams. The Alpha stood and watched it all, his anger hardening his young heart, causing strength to curl up around him, strength from a place inside himself that he never had been brave enough to go.

Never again. This would _never_ happen again.

* * *

There was a soft knock on the door, and Cassie looked up from her Rubik cube.

"Come in," she said, smiling a little because it wasn't as if she had much of a choice. Things here had been bad a year ago, but it was amazing what that much time could do. Privacy, safety meant nothing here.

Cassie had lucked out earlier. Afon had been called back down to the party by her father nearly the moment the door had shut behind him, a foreign dignitary had expressed interest in speaking to them both at the same time, and he had no choice but to acquiesce to the request. After all, one must maintain appearances.

It was suspicious timing, at least in Afon's eyes, although Afon had taken much pleasure in taking her by the hand and bringing her back down to the party with him, had taken even more enjoyment from keeping her on his arm the rest of the evening. Her father had been humiliated by her earlier behavior and obviously didn't want to be near her, but he couldn't leave, not when Afon insisted that they all converse about Cassie's time spent in the States, her and Ani's unfortunate experience in Vancouver, and Koldan's obvious inability to properly run the family's security detail. Ivan held firm, but Cassie was nearly sick a second time in watching her father try to hold himself tall and proud amongst these people, people just waiting to see him fall.

These kinds of things used to be easier when she was as high as her mother, the beautiful woman draped on her father's arm like an expensive accessory. Apparently of all the ones assembled, only Cassie didn't know her place, or the lengths she should take to remain there.

Hours later Cassie had finally pled ill from travel and too much champagne, and this time she had remained in the relative safety of the gardens, visible through the back terraces as she sat outside on a small cold stone bench alone. A squirrel had been sneaking about the bushes, and she had smiled as she caught the quickest glance of tail and fur. Fur reminded her of Paul. Paul reminded her of home, and this place, as beautiful as it was, wasn't home. Not anymore. It was only when Afon and her father had retreated to the parlor with some of the other men, brandy and cigars were as important a male ritual as they had ever been, that Cassie had slipped back to the dubious safety of her room.

Somewhere off in the east there was a small cabin in the woods, and it was the safest place in the world. That cabin was not here.

The person who had knocked hesitated a moment, and then Ani stuck her head through the door. Her long blonde hair had been let down from it carefully arranged mass of curls, and now it lay loose around her shoulders. The younger girl gave Cassie a shy smile and slipped inside the room, her robe drawn around her as she padded barefoot across the carpet. This had been a nightly habit once, Ani intruding into Cassie's bubble, and Cassie's bubble had always been happier being intruded upon. So Cassie smiled and scooted over on her bed, making room. Ani leaned her head on Cassie's shoulder, watching her sister play with the cube, one whole side of it red. Cassie had named this side the Paul side.

"Father's angry with you, syestra," Ani said, looking sad and Cassie paused a moment before twisting one of the cube's sides.

"Ivan Fedorov has been angry with me for a while, Ani," Cassie said softly, and then she smiled hopefully at Ani. "As long as _you're_ not mad at me, everything's still okay."

Ani grinned and stole the Rubik cube. "It's not the first of my party's that you've ruined," Ani teased, and in three twists she had hopelessly lost was progress Cassie had made. Poor Paul, he was just a jumble of bits now, not at all his normal sided self. "I can count at least five separate nights where my big sister stole the show. If I got angry every time someone in the room looks at you instead of me, I'd always be angry."

"Koldan was looking at you tonight," Cassie winked at her. "And ignore whatever anyone says, he only looks at you. Three more weeks, Ani, and you might have a much nicer birthday than you realize."

Ani sighed and flopped back on the bedding, curling around Cassie's hip like a tiny version of the wolves. It was so close to what she was used to that Cassie's eyes filled with tears and she had to blink them away, her face turned so Ani wouldn't see.

"I kissed him," Ani said quietly. "After Garrett's party, when we were in the car at the airport. I was so scared, I had been so scared for him and for you and for your friend…I was confused, I'm still not sure exactly what happened. I was crying and Koldan was holding me, and I tried to kiss him. He wouldn't let me, syestra, he told me I was too young and deserved better. That it was just a _crush_." She said the last word as if that was the end all, and Cassie suppressed the urge to smile at her sister's slightly dramatic lamenting.

"Koldan's my age, Ani," Cassie told her sister gently, running a hand through her hair. "If what he feels is a deep as I think it is, it'll hurt him much more later on if what you feel only is a crush. He's adored you from the day father brought him home, and he's not going to take advantage of you being upset. It's not as bad as it seems. You matter the world to him, you always have. Koldan's a good man, and good men don't rush things that matter to them."

"Like your Paul?" Ani asked quietly, and Cassie felt that twist inside, telling her that he wasn't where he was supposed to be. Or maybe it was that she wasn't where she was supposed to be. Ani reached for Cassie's hand, and Cassie realized that Ani had seen her rubber band. "Did he give you this, Ksana? Is Paul why you won't marry Afon?"

"It doesn't matter," Cassie said, quickly closing her fingers and tucking her hand in her lap. Ani frowned and sat up on her heels as Cassie shook her head.

"But he loves you, syestra!" Ani promised her, dragging her hand back out of her lap. "He _loves_ you. You should have seen the way he was looking at you, or how hard he was trying to find you that night. That's what I want, someone to look at me the way that Paul looks at you. Why would that not matter?"

Cassie didn't know what to say. She had spent so long protecting Ani, and crushing her innocence was cruel. But Cassie knew that sometimes innocence was dangerous, it put you at a disadvantage and there had been a time where Cassie had been nearly as innocent as Ani. It hadn't served her very well at all. So Cassie took her sister's hands in her own and looked at her very seriously.

"Ani? I'm going to tell you something very important, something that you need to keep to yourself, okay? It's important. Do you promise?"

Ani tilted her head to the side, but she nodded. "I promise."

Cassie took a deep breath, and she opened her mouth to bare her soul to her sister. The door swung back open. It was Ivan, his face disapproving. "Ania, it's late, and we have a breakfast to attend tomorrow," their father said quietly. "Please go to bed."

"Yes, father," Ani said meekly, rising and waving her fingers at her sister before slipping out of the door. Cassie looked at her father, and even though it was stupid, she allowed her hope to rise, a little more the longer he stood there, gazing at her. He was a good man, her father, and he had always been so very proud of her. Had given her everything he could, had sacrificed everything for them. And all her family asked in return was that she do the same for them. It was a hard bargain, and not a fair one on either side.

"Daddy," Cassie started to say, her hand lifting up imploringly, but the door closed shut. Cassie's hand dropped back down. She had expected it, but it hurt. It hurt so very much, so much that Cassie rolled over onto her un-bruised side and brought her knees up to her chest. Even that first night in Seattle, before Roman, before everyone, she had never felt this alone. Little Red was all on her own out here, and the Hunter was closing in. She never had been very good at running anyways.

Her phone rang. It was Paul.

She had been waiting, needing to hear from him so badly, but not nearly as much as this moment. So Cassie's hand was shaking, an addict reaching for fix, as she answered the phone.

"Paul?" she whispered, praying it was him and not one of the others telling her something had happened. Praying he was okay. Paul's voice over the line was deep and a little raspy, but it was his. Relief stole her voice away completely.

"Cass? _Oh thank god_," he breathed, as if he hadn't been sure. "I can't feel you at all, baby. Are you okay, Cass?"

"I'm okay, Paul," she managed to get out. "Are you…is everyone…" And then she was crying, deep choking sobs she couldn't hold in anymore. He kept asking her what was wrong, what had happened, but she couldn't stop crying, not for a very long time. Paul promised her that everyone was okay, some worse than others, but they were all going to be okay. He was sorry he hadn't called sooner, but they couldn't risk breaking up the Pack, not with so many injured, and he hadn't had reception out in the woods. He told her what had happened, glossing over the worst of it, she was certain. Each piece of good news left her sobbing harder, and she tried to stop, knowing it was panicking him. And then Paul was telling her he loved her, that he was coming to get her, to please tell him where she was, and he would come get her.

Paul was coming, Cassie realized, and he would save her. But then again, sometimes people needed to save themselves.

Cassie hadn't come here just to fall apart the first day, she had come here to protect Paul, to protect herself and her family, and Koldan had given her a way to do this. She just had to be strong enough to try. So Little Red adjusted her cape and picked up her basket, determined to walk to grandma's house all alone. She could and she would do this. "I love you, Paul," Cassie breathed. "I love you, and I'm okay."

"Cassie," Paul snarled over the phone. "If there's something I need to know, you tell me right the hell _now_."

"I love you, Paul," she repeated, because he needed to know that. "I love you and I'm okay." Because he needed to know that too.

Paul wasn't buying it, he wasn't buying it for a second. "Cassie, dammit, where exactly are you?" Paul demanded. "I can be there by tomorrow, I think. I'm gonna come get you, I was a fucking idiot for letting you go there alone."

"Language please, Paul," Cassie tried to tease him, although her voice shook a little. "And everything's okay. Just give me a few days."

"No."

"Paul," Cassie whispered, "Just give me a couple days, okay? That's all I need."

"_No_," he snapped back. "Something's wrong, I don't have to be a goddamn wolf to know that!"

"Paul, I'm sorry I scared you," Cassie pleaded, "It was just really hard waiting to hear from you. I've been fighting with my family, and it upset me. But please give me a couple days, and then it'll all be okay. Please, I just need a little more time."

More time. That's what it always came down to. Little Red was small, and sometimes it took her longer to walk somewhere than everyone else did. But she had to get to grandma's house, and when she found a way to kill the Hunter, a way that didn't make Paul a killer or leave her family in danger, then she and the Big Bad Wolf could slip away into the forest and live happily ever after.

After all, that was what it was all about, wasn't it?

Paul was silent, and she could hear him seething over the phone. Finally he sucked in a deep steadying breath. "Cassie?"

"Yes, Paul?"

"I'll give you _two_ days," Paul said in a voice so dangerous it made her shiver from this far away. "Two days, momma, and that's _it_. Then I'm coming there, and I'm killing him for you, and if your whole family rots in a fucking prison cell for the rest of their lives because of it, that's too fucking bad. _You are __**mine**_."

The Big Bad Wolf. Little Red didn't even ask him how he knew. He was her wolf, he was built to know. Instead she smiled when he snarled that he loved her, that he was so fucking angry with her that he couldn't see straight, and to never ask him to do this shit ever again. She told him she loved him too, and then hung up the phone. After all, she had to get her rest, because tomorrow Little Red was going hunting and it was a long way to grandma's house. For the faintest moment, Cassie could feel Paul, burning brightly in her belly, her wolf, her world. Curling around her rubber band, Cassie smiled and fell asleep, holding on to the feel of him with everything she had.

Down in the parlor something waited right until the scarred jawed man raised a cigar to his lips, and then it bit Afon Cherkov's ankle hard enough to leave him cursing and bleeding, a burn mark on his hand where he had dropped the cigar. And if there was an ominous squeak from behind the draperies, well then, at least Afon Cherkov had been warned.

Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf might not be the only ones the Hunter had to worry about.


	21. Chapter 19

A/N So this book will be twenty chapters total, with an epilogue like the last one. We're almost done! This chapter is a little longer because I didn't want to leave you guys on a cliffy, and next chapter may be a little shorter since this one sucked up some of the next one's plot. Thanks as always to my reviewers: _pinkshirt, lilred-07, KerryH, LightIsPrecious, Negrinha, MadToTheBone1, toalli, Roonani, cylobaby, laurazuleta18, -gaby xo (sorry, it cut your name when I typed it properly), moani-sama, EnglishVoice, Buffyk0604, Jacobleah, SARAH DB, SugerSweetCutie, esoteric desideratum, hilja, Manna1, Lady Aeries, hefors, StealthLiberal, TheLovelyImprinted, HopefulHeartache, LexaBrooke, mcc3654, _and_ ally leigh_.

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Nineteen

There was someone in bed with her.

It wasn't a new experience for Cassie, waking up and not knowing what warm body was against hers, but it wasn't her favorite. It helped that when she rolled over, she accidentally got a mouthful of long blonde hair, and Cassie smiled even as she pulled it out and snuggled closer to her sister's sleeping form. Ani smelled good, like honey and flowers, and the older blonde's eyes fluttered closed. Ani had been doing this ever since she was big enough to toddle down the hall and climb into Cassie's bed, although her sister used to only bring stuffed animals and toys along with her instead of attractive men. It hadn't passed Cassie's attention that there was a man standing in the room, his muscular arms folded across his chest and his stance deceptively relaxed as he leaned against the wall by her closed door. Cassie's smile grew a little bigger.

"You know, Koldan, most of the guards stay _outside_ the bedroom," Cassie teased quietly, so not to wake her slumbering sister. "Be careful or Ani and I might try to lure you into something you might regret."

Koldan had ditched his suit, and in jeans and a simple t-shirt he looked so much more like the teenage boy her father had brought home that night so long ago. Of course he wasn't starving now, although if the way he watched Ani was any measure of his feelings, then Cassie might have to change her opinion on that.

"There are a lot of things that I regret, Ksana," Koldan replied in his serious voice, his tone equally quiet. "But Ani will never be one of them."

Cassie chuckled a little, and under the watchful protection of Koldan's presence, she allowed herself to relax. It wasn't the same as being with Paul, but it was very similar to how being with Roman had felt. There was danger, yes, but still safety. The funny thing about it was that Paul was more dangerous than anyone she had ever known, more than all of the Romans and the Koldans combined, but when she was with him there was only safety. Well, safety from humans. There were other things out there, other dangerous things moving openly around in the broad daylight, things most people had no clue about. Humans were the ones that did better sneaking about at night.

Realizing that her thoughts of Paul had woken her too far, Cassie yawned and stretched. The action caused her sleeping gown to slip down her shoulder, and Koldan politely averted his eyes while she adjusted it. That made her smile and want to tease him just a little bit more.

"How about me?" she asked with a waggle of her eyebrows. "The infamous and _highly_ promiscuous Ksanochka Ivanovna? There're a lot of people running around regretting me, sir. You should have heard Roman's rants. Apparently I was the worst job ever."

Koldan gave her a briefly amused look and unfolded himself from the wall, walking over and seating himself on the edge on her bed. There was a gun tucked in the back of his jeans and the sight reminded her so much of Roman, causing a deep hurt to slide through her muscles. Koldan exhaled and leaned forward on his knees.

"You, Ksana, are my greatest regret," Koldan finally said. "If I had been paying closer attention when Cherkov first expressed interest in you, interest in our family, I might have been able to stop things. If I had managed to kill him-"

"I'm glad you didn't," Cassie said, and she meant it. Koldan looked at her in doubt, but Cassie just gave him a tiny smile. "Even bad people, even the _worst_ people can change, Koldan. But if they're dead, they never get that chance to be better. None of us have enough time anyways, and it's so wrong to take what's left from someone. I know I live in a world with truly awful things in it, but I like to think that it won't always be like that."

"Cherkov doesn't deserve your kindness, Ksanochka," Koldan decided flatly, and Cassie winked at him.

"He doesn't have it, soon to be brother of mine. Ani's going to catch you, by the way, so get used to calling me syestra. Or she who is amazing, I like that too. You and Paul are going to be brothers in law eventually, won't that be funny? My money's still on him, in case anyone asks. But I for one would be much happier if I woke up today to find that Afon had realized the awfulness of his ways. Then I would give daddy a big hug, and mother a sedative, and squash yours and Ani's faces together until you both realize how much you love each other. Then I'm going home to make Paul breakfast, because we love each other, and that's what good wives do. Did you see my ring, Koldan? I'm engaged," Cassie chirped proudly, showing him her rubber band. Koldan just sat there, but when Cassie waggled her fingers in his face, he sighed and took her hand.

"Is it horrible to say that this is the most appropriate ring anyone's ever given you, Ksana?" Koldan chuckled, lightly flicking her rubber band.

"Paul has exquisite taste," Cassie smirked, and Koldan squeezed her hand, entwining their fingers together.

The head of security smiled, a small rare expression. "If he chose you, Ksana, I'm thinking his taste is less than exquisite," Koldan teased her, tugging at her hand with his own. "More like distressingly high maintenance. Have you thrown anything at him yet? Or have you finally grown out of that?"

Cassie sniffed and raised her chin. "I resent that deeply, Koldan. And if the answer were to be yes, then it was only because he enjoyed it."

Koldan actually grinned at that, but his grin faded, leaving his face once again serious, much too serious. "Ksana, I know what I said before, but I'm worried. Once you get into the flat, Afon's not going to let you leave without…" He faded off unhappily, and Cassie squeezed his hand this time.

"And you thought I'd last a whole second day here without that anyways?" she replied drolly. "At least this way it'll be worth something."

"And if it isn't?" he asked harshly. "If you find nothing? At least if I kept you here, kept you with Ani, I'd have a better chance at protecting you. If you go, do you know how difficult it will be to get you out until he's done with you? I'll be helpless."

There wasn't anything to say to that. She knew. She was the first of all of them to know the truth about this man.

Koldan cursed and stood up, prowling silently about the room. He was a tiger in a cage, knowing he had teeth and claws and frustrated that he was unable to use them. The serious man gripped the windowsill in his hands and looked out into the world, and in the back of her mind, Cassie wondered if he saw something, anything out there. "Ksana, you know I love your father with everything I've got, but I could end this now. I could kill Afon Cherkov and then we could run. Me, you, and Ani. The three of us have a better shot of disappearing if we split up, but I have enough connections to get us off the continent. It would be abandoning your father, but to protect you and Ani…"

Cassie could see the strain those words had on Koldan, and she could see the bitterness in his eyes. Koldan had once told her that he would stay loyal to Ivan Fedorov until the day he died, had viewed Ivan as the father he had never had, and Ivan had returned that loyalty and love wholeheartedly. Koldan had been living his own fairy tale too, and just like her, Koldan's fairy tale had been taken away. He hadn't gotten his happy ending, not yet anyways. Still, it wasn't too late to change things, as long as they had the courage to try. So Cassie stood up and followed him, wrapping her arm around Koldan's waist and leaning her head against his shoulder.

"No one's running, Koldan," Cassie said in a steady voice. She knew what she had to do, and she felt she could do it. "I'll taunt Afon, upset him, and make him believe I'm giving up but doing it with style. He's always enjoyed intruding on other people's homes instead of purchasing his own, so I don't think it'll be hard getting into the flat. When I'm there, what do I look for?" she asked quietly.

And so he told her, and even as she memorized his words, Cassie leaned forward and pressed her nose against the glass. The chill in the morning air had left thick condensation on the surface, and even as she looked, she could barely see through it to the gardens down below. But she knew that beauty was still there.

"Ksana? Are you alright?" Koldan asked quietly, and she smiled, a real, pretty smile. She knew now, there was something still out there. She just had to be strong enough to go find it. No more running. She smiled even bigger when she closed her eyes and felt the imaginary brush of fur against her fingertips. "Ksana?"

"I'm alright, Koldan," Cassie decided, turning around and looking at him, looking at Ani as she slept peacefully and blessedly unawares, looking at her red red room that was allowed to be nothing. After all, Cassie had other places to be when this was over, and someone little like her only took up so much space. "I think…I think this will work. It'll be terrible, but I think we'll be okay in the end. But Koldan, will you do me a favor? Since I'm doing one for all of us?"

The man nodded. "Whatever you need, Ksana," he agreed.

"Be here when Ani wakes up," she asked, touching his arm. "Please, since I won't be. She loves you, Koldan, and you're wasting time you could spend being happy. Don't let her know what it's like to wake up alone, and when she wakes up, hold her. Put your nose in her neck and tell her you love her. It's the best thing in the whole world, and I never got to tell Paul that."

But she would tell Paul that. She _would_. Koldan exhaled, as if someone had given him something he had never dared to ask for himself, but he stayed where he was. Smiling, Cassie put her hands on his back and gave him a gentle push, and to her pleasure, Koldan allowed it. Cassie watched as he slipped over to the bed, almost shyly lying down next to Ani, leaving plenty of room between them. Ani fixed that quickly. The motion of him lying down had been small, but it had jostled Cassie's sister slightly awake, and she instinctively turned and burrowed into Koldan's chest. As the quiet man very carefully gathered the girl up in his arms, his handsome face lined with worry, it occurred to Cassie that Pack wasn't just a bunch of wolves and a place to belong. Pack was the people around you that mattered, and doing everything, _everything_, to protect them.

Cassie stood up straighter and looked back into the glass, steeling herself for the day to come.

* * *

They were going home.

Unfortunately the going was slow, so slow in fact that Paul was nearly chewing his paws off in tension. They were still technically in Calgary territory, although no one was really sure how big that territory was anymore. Neither Brady nor Sims was doing as good as the Pack had hoped, Brady was still hurt badly, and it was obvious that every placement of his feet pained him. They had tried to carry him, but he didn't want to be touched. At _all_. It might seem like a small thing, but in a Pack of wolves, contact was integral to the health of the wolf, and Brady's self-imposed isolation told how far from healthy he was feeling. Three times now he had snuck off, only to be found curled up in a hidey hole off in the woods later, and two of those times Paul himself had forced Brady to come back.

Wolves in the wild slipped off to be alone as they suffered. Well, they weren't just wolves in the wild, and dammit, Brady wasn't going to be alone in this anymore. Not if they could help it.

Still, despite the protective love of the Pack surrounding him, the Calgary wolves had broken something inside Brady that wasn't going to heal anytime soon, and it was a damaged Pack that now trekked their way over the countryside. Aware the other Alpha was gunning for one of their Packmates and that the Pack couldn't risk another fight right now, as soon as Tasi suggested that if Brady was capable of slipping away then he was capable of slipping away _off_ Calgary territory, Jake had gathered his wolves and his imprint and had left.

Brady wasn't doing well, but neither was Sims. She had developed a fever in the middle of the night, sometime after she had fled from Embry's arms so panicked, and she was only half lucid. The Calgary doctor had callously said it was unsurprising considering how she had been treated, and Jake had stared at Tasi until the dark muzzled wolf realized that perhaps he needed to watch himself too. They might be in Calgary territory, Tasi might have a much stronger Alpha than before, but Jake wasn't the type of wolf to grow lax around. His Pack may be smaller but Jake was every bit as dangerous as Tupkuk, and intra-Pack relations were quickly breaking down. A call had been made to Carlisle who was willing to meet them outside of Calgary territory with a van, but the ancient vampire was hesitant about travelling through another Pack's land without pressing need.

Next to him, Brady stumbled, and as Paul steadied the kid before having his hand pushed away, Paul wasn't so sure that this wasn't pressing need.

Over to his right, Embry was walking with Sims in his arms, her feverish form wrapped up tightly in several blankets and a grim expression on his face. Something about seeing her having to be carried instead of toughing it out on her own two feet bothered Paul. He understood it more now, the Pack didn't like seeing their Alphas' weaknesses. The Alpha's imprint was no exception, and every so often Jake would slip over to Embry and take Sims from him. She always fought that, she was quieter in Embry's arms, happier, but her fever seemed more controllable when in Jake's. It was awkward watching the two wolves trying to adjust to this, Embry's human side wanting to give way to Jake, Embry's wolf side wanting to fight for his mate, and Jake, well, no one really knew exactly what Jake truly thought anymore anyways. They just blindly followed like good little wolves.

Jake was tired enough to find that annoying more than amusing, although Seth chuckled in Paul's head. If they were good little wolves, then Seth was the exception, the Beta decided. Jake didn't find that funny, and the Alpha currently wasn't happy with Seth. The Alpha currently wasn't happy with Seth, because Seth had disobeyed a direct order, and it had put Leah at risk. Jake wasn't okay with that. Jake also wasn't okay with not being able to trust his Beta implicitly. Seth was lucky he was still the Beta at all anymore. A Beta was strong and did as he was told and could be trusted by his Alpha. Could Seth state the same?

That hurt the Beta, that hurt the Beta a lot, enough that Seth phased and slipped off ahead of them to patrol, his mind closed from the phased members of the Pack. The others couldn't always pick up on these silent conversations that their leaders held, but Collin gave Paul a worried look, and Leah seemed suspicious enough that she padded up behind Jake, having been phased since they had left Calgary, and bit his human hand. Hard. Jake ignored her, something that he almost never did, his displeasure clear. She snuffed and ignored him ignoring her. She did however give Paul a scathing look, as if he should intercede, and Paul cringed. He really, _really_ didn't want to be caught in a dispute between his Alpha, his Beta, and the Pack's female. Paul had his own problems.

After all, his wolf had been snarling at him since he hung up the phone with Cassie.

The wolf thought he was a fool. The wolf thought that he was abandoning their mate. The wolf thought that he was more concerned with Pack than mate, and that he was wrong. Mate was the closest Pack that could exist, and to focus on Pack instead of her was betrayal. The wolf didn't care for its human's promises, they were needed at their mate's side, and they were _here_. The wolf had _known_ that its human would end up losing their mate for them, and it was furious about that.

Two days, Paul kept snarling back in his own head. Two days, and then they would go bring her back. He had promised her, because it had been important to her. Paul may be a fool, but he wouldn't take his girl, his imprint, the soul that was to be his _wife_, and trap her to him. If she needed time, then he had to give it to her. Something was going on with Cass, something important, and even if his instincts said to go rushing to her rescue before she was harmed, his instincts also told him that forcing her to do what he wanted was just as harmful. In controlling her, even for her protection, he would be doing something very very wrong. She needed to be loved, to be supported, but not controlled. The wolf would control where the man would support. That was the difference, and Paul would not allow his wolf to control either his or Cassie's lives. No, he would wait. Two days. And then he was going to Russia and he was bringing his mate back, no matter who he had to hurt to do it.

And if someone had hurt _her_…

Paul's private thoughts had grown too loud, and even as Jake signaled the Pack to take a short rest for Brady and Sims, he looked at Paul in concern. Paul shook his head, letting the Alpha know not to worry about it. Paul's imprint was Paul's responsibility.

"She's everyone's responsibility, Paul," Jake said quietly as he took Sims back from Embry, settling down against a tree and cradling his imprint against his chest. Paul had never thought of Sims as being small, after all Cassie was pint sized and Sims was pretty average for a girl. But the Alpha was massive, and she looked nearly as small next to Jake as Cass looked next to Paul. Maybe it was because she was curled up and shivering. Jake ran a hand over Sims's sweat dampened hair, the short choppy strands sticking to her neck. She mumbled something and tried to shift away, back towards Embry, but when Emb placed his own hand on her shoulder, Sims quieted.

"I'm worried about Cass," Paul admitted, dropping to his haunches next to Jake and watching Collin try to coax Brady into talking with him.

Brady wasn't talking with anyone, unless directly ordered to. Jake was giving him space, and even though everyone was allowing Brady some time to gather himself, they weren't ignoring him or pretending he was fine. Carlisle had warned Jake that even though the wolves seemed better equipped to handle emotional trauma than normal humans, what Brady and Sims had gone through wasn't something they would forget easily. It was important to watch them both, especially Sims, who had already been showing significant stress reactions recently. Had the anti-anxiety medicine helped at all? As far as the Pack knew, she had never taken it.

The only time that Jack had come out of his silence since Tupkuk had left was to inform them that Sims had flushed the whole bottle full at the beginning of the road trip. That was too bad. Paul would have been okay with downing a few himself these days. Not having Cass at his side made him extremely anxious.

Jake missed little, and he gave Paul a knowing look. "Do you need to go to her?" Jake asked quietly, and Paul frowned.

"Yes. No. Maybe. I think she needs me, hell I _know_ she needs me, but I think she's doing something that she needs to do alone. She's growing, Jake, becoming more of who she was always meant to be, and I think me walking in there and talking control of whatever's going on is going to hurt that part of her that's growing. But my gut says that some of her old demons are still haunting her back there, and if it's who I think it is…well, he and I already need to have a _talk_." Paul growled the last word and cracking his knuckles pointedly, and Jake's lips curved slightly.

"Gonna break some heads, brother?"

"Several. Once upon a time, some assholes messed with the wrong girl," Paul stated in a hard voice. "Cass wants her happy ending, and I'm gonna give it to her. She and I just don't always agree on how to go about that. I'm giving her two days, and then I'm taking over. Until then, I'm trusting her."

"Is that the right choice?" Jake wondered, and Paul grunted, spitting off to the side.

"It's the choice I'm making," Paul replied. "It's the man I want to be, one that trusts his girl instead of controlling her. I'm not stuffing Cass in a box and sitting on it the rest of my life. I know we're supposed to be all about protecting the imprints at all costs, but when it's at a cost to them, things get…"

"Complicated?"

"Yeah."

Jake understood that, and he was controlled enough to not let his eyes flicker towards Embry. Jake's brother wouldn't have noticed anyway, he was much too focused on Sims, who mumbled something unintelligible and flinched against Jake's shoulder. But Paul understood. The safest place for Sims would not have been at Embry's side, but the cost of her losing Embry would have been far too great. Jake frowned and placed his nose against Sims's shoulder, sniffing.

"She smells different," Jake muttered as he straightened. "Emb, does she smell different to you?"

Embry sighed and leaned over, his own nose briefly touching her neck as he inhaled deeply. "She smells different," Embry acknowledged, "but I can't tell what. A little better maybe, although still her. And it's lost beneath…all _that_."

All _that_ was the bitter tang that accompanied the leech poison that was very slowly sweating its way out of her system. They were lucky that the Calgary Beta hadn't scratched her deeper, or longer, or maybe Sims wouldn't be 'sweating it out'. She'd be taking it in, and they'd have even worse problems on their hands. Sims wasn't Bella, she didn't want anything to do with the leeches, and she had meant it when she had told Jake he had better off her if she turned. Hell, after Calgary had left, she had made Jake promise her he would, no matter what anyone said or did, because she wouldn't be their enemy. She _wouldn't_. The expression on Jake's face after hearing that had been odd at best, deeply pained at worst. The wrong girl had felt that way, the right one had felt much differently.

Sometimes Paul was glad Jake was so good at keeping them out of his head. After all, nearly four years of Bella Swan still breaking Jake's heart was more than any of them could accept.

"Watch her, Emb," Jake said quietly, passing Sims back to his brother. "She doesn't feel right. I don't know her very well yet, but something feels different about her than before, something feels shakier and off. I think she's gonna need some major TLC after this trip, so watch her close."

"I always do, Jake," Embry replied softly, sighing as Sims woke up enough to wrap one of her arms around his neck. She mumbled something again, her feverish forehead burying into his chest, and Embry tightened his grip. "How much longer is she going to be like this? Because I gotta be honest, man, she's too hot. Can I go on ahead, get her to Cullen faster?"

Jake's face went stony as he glanced at his Pack, and Paul knew it was because he didn't like them broken up, not anymore. Jake had learned this lesson well. Brady was lying on the ground, his eyes closed, but they knew he was listening when he spoke up in a gravelly voice, "Get her out of here, guys. You don't know…the shit they did, she doesn't remember half of it. What she said earlier wasn't even _close_ to half of it."

"What did they do, Brady?" Jake asked gently, although there was Alpha in his tone, enough Alpha to draw words from Brady the pup wasn't ready to say yet. Brady's eyes watered up, and he roughly scrubbed the moisture away before it hit his cheeks. "Brady? What do we need to know?"

The young man kept his face over his hands, and a tremble went through his limbs. "They…fuck, Jake, please don't make me talk about it yet. Every time I close my fucking eyes, all I see is that shit."

"Then phase and let me see it, Brady," Jake replied. "Then I'll block you away from everyone else as long as you need me to. Deal?"

Brady shivered but nodded, and Paul glanced down respectfully when his Alpha rose and began stripping off his jeans. Brady had been phasing in and out so much that he was still naked, and the young wolf merely phased in place, then rolled over onto his belly and rested his muzzle next to Collin. When Collin reached over to rub Brady's nose soothingly, the pup whined apologetically but still turned his face away. The Alpha phased and padded over, resting his muzzle across Brady's hips and growling when the pup flinched and made to shift away. There was a moment of silence, and then Jake rose, the massive russet wolf shifting back into a human mid step. He jerked his jeans back on angrily and even Paul flinched back from his fierce expression. Embry was looking askance, but Jake was too busy grinding his teeth to notice.

Finally he spoke, his words clipped and angry. "New rule, no imprint leaves the rez or Forks without explicit permission from me, not even with the imprint's wolf." Paul watched worriedly as Brady stuck his nose under his tail, once again shifting away from Collin, and Jake settled down next to Embry, his eyes hot with anger. "Especially _not_ Samantha."

"Jake?" Paul asked softly, and Jake shook his head, making Paul immediately back down. Embry wasn't Paul, though, and he tightened his grip on Sims.

"What the hell happened down there, Jake?" Embry growled, "What did they do to my girl?" But Jake said nothing, because he didn't have to. It was between him, Brady and Sims.

Paul closed his eyes, understanding better than Embry that maybe this was one of those things that was better not to know.

* * *

None of her clothes fit. Well then, she'd just have to go buy new ones.

Cassie had always made a habit of trying to hurt Afon as much as possible, after all, if she was going down then she was going down swinging. Unfortunately, she didn't have a very good bat, and money was the best way she had of hurting him without putting her family at risk. So in efforts to maintain her front of fighting until the very end, Cassie decided to go shopping, and she just may have slipped into her father's office and taken the business account credit card, the one that the government was watching closely for suspicious expenditures, the one that had both her father and Afon Cherkov's names on it. Opps. And she may or may not have used that certain card, over and over until it finally was declined in her hot little hands.

Cassie supposed that trying to buy a speedboat on a company credit card was slightly excessive spending anyways.

Her shopping spree didn't go unnoticed. In fact, it was so noticed that an important business meeting was interrupted, and Cassie was requested at her father's offices downtown immediately, where he and Afon were currently discussing a new investment opportunity in the States. Apparently Afon had purchased a night club in Seattle, and was interested in obtaining more. Of course, that was if Afon's _darling_ Ksana didn't bankrupt them all first. Ivan Fedorov was nearly red from fury as Cassie calmly strutted into the conference room, two of Koldan's men flanking her. She had left two of Afon's trying to get her shopping bags home for her, so they were stuck missing the fun. Cassie hadn't really paid attention to what she was buying, only how much it cost, although she had to admit that her brand new Prada boots, bright red and contrasting nicely to the skin tight black mini-dress she wore, were fabulous. Costly but fabulous. And since she had an exquisite understanding of the appropriate, Cassie had paired her dress with a fitted red hoodie, symbolic as it was comfy.

"Good morning, daddy, Afon," Cassie chirped as she and her boots strutted right on into the meeting, and she walked directly to Afon, perching on the edge of the conference table and crossing her legs right in front of his hungry gaze. She deliberately ignored everyone else in the room. "Don't you like how all you have to do is call and I come running? I'm good at running, sometimes I even can do it in boots. Afon? Do you like my new boots? Aren't they cute?" Cassie nudged his knee with her toe and the scarred jawed man smirked.

"I would have liked them a lot more if you'd asked _before_ buying them, Ksana," Afon said smoothly. "Twenty-three thousand dollars in three hours, a quarter of which spent in various shoe stores, is a little excessive, even for you. Out of curiosity, how did you even _get_ that particular card? Our accountant is having a small seizure right now."

"Oh, I took it from daddy," Cassie said, eyeing her father, who had remained tight lipped since her entrance. She could see that her words shamed him, but the fact that he believed them shamed her just as much. That he could ever believe this of her was more hurtful than anything so far. So she flipped out the card and smiled prettily at him and Afon both, waving it in the air. "It's come to my recent attention that I'm falling out of his favor, so why not take what I can get in the meantime? After all, if I'm being sold off to the highest bidder, I might as well see what the highest bidder's daily spending limits are. So Afon, he who will soon own me, what _are_ your daily spending limits? I have to have _some_ sort of compensation for this arrangement."

"_Ksana_, watch your mouth," Ivan said between gritted teeth, but Afon merely gave her a speculative look as she feigned boredom and began tapping her nails on the conference table.

"Are you playing, dear, or are you serious?" Afon asked in a purr, and Cassie smirked at him.

"Just because I hate you doesn't mean that I can't spend your money, Afon," Cassie countered. "And if I manage to make every single one of us broke, then really what's the point of you bothering with us anymore? It's brilliant, really. With no money, a discredited family name, and a girl whose spent the last year riding everyone _but_ you…well, gosh. You won't need us anymore. My family doesn't have to deal with you, my clothing selections become even more exquisite, and if I'm lucky, maybe the wrong person will grow annoyed and off you-"

"_Everyone out_," Afon suddenly snapped, his voice hard enough to cut diamonds. Kind of like the diamonds that Cassie had purchased this morning, the ones she had 'accidentally' given to a prostitute. Of course the prostitute would probably end up using them to buy drugs instead of food, or clothes, or a way out, and that was a shame. But Cassie couldn't hold it against her, because sometimes you couldn't buy your way out. It was usually much easier to buy your way in.

"Someone's about to get spanked," Cassie murmured, but then her eyes locked on her father's. He was giving her a pained look, but he didn't move when Afon's men subtly shifted closer to that end of the now emptied room. It wouldn't be the first time that Ivan Fedorov was forcibly removed from somewhere by Cherkov's men. He gave Afon a pleading look.

"Ksanochka is foolish, but I'll deal with her, Cherkov," Ivan started to say, but Cherkov's raised hand silenced him.

"No need, old friend. Ksana is young, and I've dealt with flighty women before," Afon chuckled. "After all, some fillies you can break in a day, and some require constant handling to keep manageable. Leave, Ivan, and we'll continue later. Take your men out with you when you go."

"That's my _daughter_, Cherkov," Ivan growled, and Afon smiled up at her father, placing his hand on Cassie's knee.

"Yes it is, Fedorov, and if I'm not mistaken, you have two. Would you rather I have taken an interest in the other one?"

Twenty-five years of breeding couldn't keep the furious snarl out of Cassie's throat when she heard that obvious threat to her sister, but eighteen years of love could. Eighteen years of love had Cassie slipping from the table and onto the lap of a man she hated, her bare thighs pressing into an Armani belt. Two years of training herself to touch and be touched, to not succumb to her worst fears, had her mouth slanted over his and her tongue between his teeth even as her father watched. A year of sex, of being beneath Roman's body as he took every inch of her, of giving and taking from so many others, kept the cry of fear deep in her belly as she was hoisted up onto another conference table. Three months of being Paul's assured her that he would hate this, but that one day he would forgive her.

Sometimes you went further than you should ever have to go to protect something that mattered.

All the king's horses and all the king's men turned their backs and faced the other way, and the door slammed shut, leaving Little Red alone with the Hunter. His hands were on her thighs and his mouth was ravaging hers. Hers, not his. She was in control here, not him. _Never_ him. Cassie pulled back even as the Armani belt hit the floor.

"You keep your hands _off_ my sister, Afon," Cassie snarled even as he wrapped his fingers through her hair and pulled her head back. "Not even my mother will trade Ani for your money. I'm the best you're ever going to get from my family."

"Then prove it, Ksana," Afon chuckled darkly. So she did, only she proved it on her knees, because it would buy her time and leave him wanting more that he couldn't have yet. She would come by his place later, her father's personal flat near the Kremlin, but she got his credit card first, the one that they wouldn't put a hold on. Afon found it amusing that the purchase price for this filly was thirty thousand dollars. No boots, though, he hated the things and they made her look like a whore. Cassie would have made a clever comment to that, but she was too busy throwing up in the waste can in the corner. Afon held her hair, that short hair he couldn't stand, and smiled fondly. After all, breaking her had been one of his most magnificent accomplishments. Too bad it was almost over. Winning wasn't nearly as exciting as the threat of losing.

Oh well. There were always other games.

* * *

It took them much longer to get to the Canadian border than it should have, but it was necessary. Sims's fever wasn't worsening, but it wasn't getting better either, and even as Brady's body healed a little more each step, those steps became slower and slower. He stayed human, stayed isolated, and Paul could see Collin's distress growing with every hour. When Embry had Sims, Jake stayed at Brady's side, but the smell of Brady's miserableness was rising. The pup blamed himself, and nothing Jake was saying was changing that.

Carlisle met them at the border. Jared was waiting there with him.

No one had told Brady that Jared would be there, especially when the reason Brady wouldn't stay phased very long was because of Jared's voice in his head. Brady wasn't in a place where he could forgive himself yet, and the love and forgiveness coming from Jared was too much for the pup to take. It was a sign of how out of it Brady was that the kid never even smelled their Packmate, he merely trudged along in front of Paul with his eyes mostly closed and his face usually down. But when he did finally smell the older wolf, Brady's head snapped up and he cringed. He backpedalled, as if to flee, after all Brady had learned young that was the best way to deal with disappointed male authority figures, and he wasn't thinking straight. But Jared Qahla wasn't Bradley Jennings. Jared Qahla would _never_ be Bradley Jennings.

Looking absolutely furious, Jared hopped off the hood of Carlisle's van, where he had been waiting impatiently. As the vampire gracefully headed for Sims and Jake, Jared made a beeline for Brady, who was seriously considering bolting. Paul caught Brady's shoulder to stop him, felt the quiver of flesh as if Brady was about to phase again, and quickly let go. Brady was phasing too much, going back and forth like this was hard on them when healthy, and Brady was far from healthy, inside and out. Paul briefly thought of telling Jared this, but that was stupid.

Jared knew exactly how to handle his pup.

Where Collin would have needed space to work things out alone, Brady used separation to hide from the world, and Jared busted right through that. He strode up to Brady and gripped the younger wolf by the back of the neck, quite literally snatching him up like he was a puppy. Brady's feet were barely staying beneath him as Jared half dragged, half carried him to the van.

"Sit down, Brady!" Jared practically roared, making everyone but Seth and Jake flinch. Paul raised an eyebrow as Brady instantly sat on the edge of the van, where the sliding door was left open. Jared loomed overhead, the pup trembling, and Paul almost interfered, but Jake caught his eye and shook his head as Jared went off. "Do you have any fucking _clue_ how worried I've been about you? How worried _Kim_ is about you? And every time I try to talk to you, you start singing the goddamn _Goldfish crackers_ song in your goddamn head! And then you don't stay phased at _all_, switching back as soon as I open my fucking mouth? I have spent the last _two days_ gnawing my fucking paws off trying to keep from coming here to find you, and if you think for one goddamn minute that I'm gonna let you run away and blow me off anymore, then you've got another thing coming!"

"I'm sorry," Brady whispered, and he cringed lower, but Paul could see the pup leaning in towards Jared. Brady had found his corner, and Jared was standing between him and the world, even if the world was Brady's Pack. Jared still had his hand on the back of Brady's neck, but Brady wasn't fighting it at all.

"You don't block _me_ out, Brady," Jared snarled dangerously. "You want to hide from your whole fucking Pack, then that's your decision, but you _**don't hide from me**_. _Got it_?"

It was the most weight Paul had ever heard Jared put behind a sentence, and for a moment Paul wondered how strong Jared could have been if imprinting hadn't leveled him out and left him completely content in life. Brady nodded, and there were tears starting to well up in his eyes, and then Jared was crushing the pup to his chest, his muscled arms shaking. It didn't pass Paul's notice that Brady was clinging to Jared like a fucking lifeline.

"Dammit, kid, don't you _ever_ scare me like that again," Jared growled, gripping Brady even tighter as the poor pup began to sob softly. It was a release he needed, Brady had been through too much, and he needed to collapse. Jared shifted, adding in a choked voice, "Kim and I, we thought we'd lost you. And then you wouldn't even _talk_ to me."

"I'm sorry," Brady mumbled brokenly, "I just didn't…my head, I keep seeing…I couldn't…"

Jared sank down, sitting on the floor of the van next to Brady, hauling the pup in closer as he cried. It was a moment almost too private to watch, and Paul shifted his gaze away. When the others didn't, Jared wrinkled his upper lip back and snarled at them, Jake and Seth included. The Alpha smiled slightly, nodding at Jared and then he turned his attention back to Sims and Embry, giving Jared and Brady their privacy. The others instantly followed suit. Carlisle was examining Sims's wounds, a frown on his beautiful face, and as Paul watched his Alpha frown as well, a presence at Paul's shoulder drew his attention. It was Collin.

"You okay, kid?" Paul asked quietly, low enough that no one would hear unless they were trying to. Collin nodded, but it didn't pass his notice that Collin shifted closer. There was guilt in his eyes, and Paul sighed. "You know this isn't your fault, don't you, Collin?"

"I know," the younger wolf replied wearily, but Collin had hesitated a half moment before answering. It was enough to make Paul fold his arms across his chest and sigh.

"Collin?"

"Yeah?"

"Look at everyone. Look at Brady and Jared, look at Sims, and look at Jack. Look at me and look at yourself," Paul ordered softly, and Collin did, his intelligent eyes sweeping over the Pack. "Things don't always turn out good, kid," Paul told him honestly. "Sometimes we fight and we win, but sometimes we fight and we lose. All that matters is when the shit's over, we kept fighting. You and Brady kept fighting, and that's all we could have asked out of either of you. You remember this, kid, and you remember how it felt, and you use that. You're not always going to be the pup, pup. So learn, and help us make sure this kind of thing never happens again."

"I'll always be _your_ pup, papa wolf," Collin smiled, but he understood. Then Paul nodded at Jake.

"Look at your Alpha, Collin," Paul said in a louder voice, one that brought all eyes but the vampire's to Paul first, then to Jake. This time it was the Alpha who raised an eyebrow. "This was an attack on him, and it worked. Even if we're still in one piece, we still lost, and the reason why is because your Alpha's Third put his own imprint in front of the Alpha's imprint. I'm not apologizing because I would do it again, every single time, but this is what can happen when you put your imprint first in front of your whole Pack. Remember this too, kid. In ordering Jack to protect Cassie instead of Sims, I could have single handedly destroyed our Pack. You're going to be strong one day, Collin, stronger than most of us, so you remember the consequences your decisions can bring."

The pup looked stunned, but then he nodded in acceptance. Paul patted him on the shoulder and then pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket. Reception had been horrible, and he was worried about Cassie. Seeing he only had a single bar of reception, Paul sighed and wandered off to the side, nearer to where Seth kept a watchful eye over Jack and a tired looking Leah. Jake's deep voice stopped him.

"Hey, Collin."

"Yeah, Jake?" the pup asked respectfully, although it was obvious that he was uncomfortable being the center of all this attention.

"Look at Paul." Paul halted and turned around in confusion. The Alpha had his hand on his imprint's feverish head, but his eyes were on Paul and Paul alone. "You be yourself, Collin, but when you're not sure what that should be, you try your damnedest to be Paul. And when you're strong, and you have to make the tough decisions, you remember him and you remember what real strength is. I'd rather have one Paul at my side then a thousand Calgary Packs behind my back."

Paul stood there, floored, but Jake was already focusing back in on his imprint. Seth chuckled and leaned over, patting Paul on the shoulder the same way Paul had done to Collin. "Thought you were making a call," Seth reminded him as Paul realized that he was flushing from the compliment. Jake loved and appreciated them all, but that kind of comment, made deliberately in front of the entire Pack, meant something. It meant a lot. Thrown off, Paul fumbled with his phone.

"Umm…yeah. Yeah, I was trying to call Cass again."

Seth caught the note of concern in Paul's voice, and asked quietly, "Is she okay over there?"

"She says she is, but I don't really know," Paul growled softly. "I told her I'd give her two days, and then I was coming to get her. My wolf disagrees, quite aggressively. It's been snarling at me since the call yesterday."

The Beta glanced at him sharply. "The wolf that can only be counted on as long as it's not asleep, just woke up, or is considering sleeping again?"

"That sounds about right," Paul admitted. "Actually it almost never says anything anymore. The more we work in tandem, the more it blends into the background, but it's fighting me hard on this one, and I'm not caving. I gave her two days, and that's what she's going to get."

Jake was once again watching them, and the weight of the Alpha's attention pulled at Paul and Seth simultaneously. The Alpha thought that Moscow was pretty far to get to if something bad happened, and he didn't like his imprints gone. Sending Cass away was a good thing at the time, but the Alpha wanted his entire Pack under his watchful eye again. Paul wanted her under his watchful eye too, but a promise was a promise, and without a valid reason, he wasn't breaking his promise to his imprint. It was Paul's decision, the Alpha felt, but he wanted Seth trying to figure out if it was possible to boost the imprint bond between Paul and Cassie, if the Beta's ability to manipulate Pack bonds could help Paul feel Cassie better. If they could feel her, they would know whether to truly be worried or not, and maybe that would give Jake's Beta something more productive to do then directly disobeying orders. Important orders that protected Jake's _only_ she-wolf, dammit. Jake's _only_ Leah.

The Beta was a little shocked that Jake was still mad about this, Jake was never mad at him, not for long anyway. Jake wasn't mad…okay, yeah. Jake was mad. Just fucking do what Jake said, Seth.

Seth sighed and looked at Paul. "Well, it's worth a try," the Beta shrugged. "So…how do we do this?"

Paul snorted and gave Seth a disbelieving look. "How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"Well, you're the imprint guy here, not me," Seth chuckled as he plopped down in place and flicked Leah's nose, just to be annoying. "I thought I had imprinted on a car the other day, but alas, no imprint."

Leah snapped her jaws at Seth and then rose to her feet, padding over to Jake and watching Carlisle from behind Jake's shoulder. When she put her slender muzzle against his neck and whined unhappily, he reached up and patted her nose reassuringly before asking her to move off and give everyone a little more room. She huffed but did what he said, and Jake gave her a quick smile in appreciation when she flopped onto her side close enough that she could still watch. At Jake's smile she wagged her tail once, but only once. Still Seth gave both an annoyed look.

"Okay, how is that fair?" the Beta muttered as Paul gave up trying to make his phone work and seated himself next to Seth. "Jake's still mad at me, but Leah's in the clear now?"

"Don't ask me," Paul shook his head. "I don't want to be in the middle of it."

"But…say some ridiculously handsome and overwhelmingly likeable young wolf was to _Beta_ order you into being in the middle of it, what would you say?"

"I'd say that's an infringement on my lupine civil liberties, and I'd like to file a complaint."

Seth smirked and scooted around so that he could lean against Paul's back, both wolves bracing themselves upright comfortably and keep watch in different directions. "File away, I'm listening."

"Conflict of interest, Seth," Paul yawned. "Our Pack needs an anonymous complaint line or some shit. Damn, I feel like I haven't slept in a week."

"It's been more like three days, but yeah, it would do you good to relax," Seth stated, and Paul could hear the dry amusement in his voice. "Believe it or not, Paul, I can handle things while you rest for a few. Carlisle just told Jake that we need to wait an hour or two before making Sims travel again. Just leave yourself open to Cass, and I'll see what I can do. If I need you, I'll wake you up."

Paul nodded, and then he leaned more, letting his head fall back so that it was resting on Seth's shoulder. He opened himself up to Cass, what wasn't there anymore, and in the process opened himself up to them all.

He could hear Embry humming quietly to Sims, a soothing song that Emb's mother used to sing when Embry was a child and was sick. He could hear Jake talking even quieter to Carlisle. Yeah, using vampire venom on her was pretty messed up. No, Jake didn't know if Sims had died if he would have as well. No, he didn't know if turning into a vampire counted as dying when it came to imprint bonds, there was just so much they didn't know. Paul could hear Collin settling down next to Jack, who had tried his best to stay invisible at their sides, and Collin resting his hand on Jack's scarred muzzle in comfort.

Paul could hear Jared telling a no longer crying Brady that he was proud of him, so fucking proud of him that Jared could burst, but that Brady was never allowed to block Jared out ever again. Jared and Kim were his family, dammit, and he wasn't _ever_ allowed to forget that or turn his back on them. He could hear Brady's erratic heartbeat finally steadying for the first time since they pulled him out of that damn cave, could feel his Packmate taking comfort from Paul's best friend.

Paul opened himself up more, thinking about Jared. Jared thought it would be cool if Paul and Jared could stop phasing together, could watch football on the weekends together and drink beer while Cass and Kim yelled at them and threw things. And then they could have wives and babies and houses and bills and just live _life_ together. A regular, normal life. That was Jared's fairy tale, and it made Paul smile when he realized that it was becoming Paul's fairy tale too. The good thing about imprinting was that meant he wasn't in this shit for life. A few more years and maybe Jake would let him and Jared stop phasing, and then they could have their fairy tale live. The first thing on that list was the wife, and she was off in Russia. It was about time to go get her and bring her home.

One more day and he could have kept his promise and still go get her…one more day and he could…one more…unaware that the Beta was soothing him down into slumber, Paul never did sleep enough anyway, the Third's eyes fluttered closed.

Paul slept. And in sleeping, Paul dreamed.

He dreamed of a fire, burning brightly in the distance, of the sounds of his people as they laughed and loved around that fire. He dreamed of padding through the darkness, one within himself, no longer a monster to the wolf inside, the wolf no longer a monster to him. He dreamed of forgiveness and redemption, of silent paws digging into the earth as they ran, side by side, no longer alone. He dreamed of all the wolves before him, and all the wolves after, and how they had been one, and how they would be one again. He dreamed of an ocean, deep and vast, and a land so far away from his own. He dreamed of a house, and of a stairs, and of a hall. He dreamed of a room, of padding around a girl in a chair, a girl who never saw him as she rose and walked to a window, who never felt him even as her fingers slipped through his fur. He dreamed…

He dreamed of a girl turning in his arms, mumbling in a frightened voice, "Paul, the glass broke."

He dreamed of her scent in his nose, his mumbled reply of "I'll fix it later." The softest curve to her lips. No need to fix it now, it was already too late, it was already broke…_It was already too late._ Her little nose was still pressed to the glass, staring out hopefully when the window shattered, taking her with it.

Paul woke with a snarling cry, leaping to his feet. Seth had done as Jake had asked, had used his strength to bolster Paul, had let Paul use the Beta to tie himself in tighter to Cassie even across all this distance. And Cassie was _not _okay. Seth scrambled to his feet next to Paul, eyes wide as he realized what had just happened. The Third let out a bellow of sheer rage, a violent tremor rolling down his limbs.

"_**Paul**_! Don't you _dare_ phase, Paul!" Jake ordered before Paul had a chance to lose control any further. Paul didn't know if Jake had pulled it from Seth or himself, but Jake's eyes were flashing in fury. "Go get her, _now_," Jake snapped. "Take Seth with you, and get her home _now_. _Go get her_." As if he needed to be told twice. The closest airport was Vancouver, and Paul was already running with Seth hot on his heels.

But the fucked up thing about it was that Paul already knew that it was too late.

* * *

She had spent every penny she could, and she had given every penny of it away. It still didn't change the fact that she had brought herself to her father's flat, had left her own guards at the door, and had spent a night willingly doing things that she had never wanted to do again.

Her baggie was almost empty, her nostril burned, and her body was numb, but there was only so much she knew how to take. Little Red had had work to do, but Paul's glue was giving, and she had left her parts trailing from the door to Grandma's bed. The early morning sun was rising, and she was pretty sure that the Big Bad Wolf was worried she wasn't answering his calls. She had always answered his calls. Unfortunately no one was home, not here, not anymore.

"I remember the first time I ever saw you dance," Afon rumbled into her ear, the scar that hadn't quite managed to slit his throat causing his voice to be deeper than it used to be. A large hand ran down her shoulder, dipping into the curve of her waist before following the flare of her naked hip. "As I watched you move across the floor, it occurred to me that you were the purest thing I had ever seen. So beautiful, so clean."

A thousand Pauls couldn't burn her clean, not after last night, not anymore. It was one thing to be forced, and another to enter into it willingly. She had betrayed her wolf willingly.

"I have to say, Ksanochka," Afon chuckled, shifting closer to Cassie in the bed. He smelled of expensive cigars and more expensive wine, a scent that turned her already twisted stomach. "You gave me quite a chase. But now, look at you."

Please, no one look at her. Not now. Not ever again.

"A rose finally blossomed," he purred into her ear, nipping at her lobe. "And then the petals plucked one by one. You fought valiantly, darling, there's no shame in your failure."

"What makes you think you won?" she managed to whisper, but the fire in her voice was gone. The drugs that had numbed her from him had numbed herself from her. She had thought she had been ready for this, that she had prepared herself enough. But there was no preparing oneself for facing their demons, not when the demon would win every single time.

"That look in your eyes, Ksana, that defeat," he told her in a smooth voice. "Trust me, I've seen it many times before. You gave up that night on the pier, you realized that I would always win, and you came here to me. It's easier seeing your enemy, is it not? The shadow behind your shoulder is always infinitely more frightening. You wasted a lot of time and a lot of money, Ksana, when I had _always_ won. From the very beginning, the moment I took your family from you, I owned you. Although it was amusing watching you run about, a frightened puppy on a chain, unable to gnaw herself free."

"I hate you," Cassie whispered, staring at the hand sliding down her stomach. "I'd never hated anything until you. I'll never hate anything but you."

Afon brushed his lips over the rim of her ear, his mouth curving in pleasure. "Good for you, darling. You know, Ksanochka…I think breaking you might be the most singularly beautiful thing I have ever done."

Cassie trembled, but there was no Paul to keep her warm, not in this cold, dangerous place. "Did you kill Roman?" she asked harshly, because only he would know, and she wanted to know if Roman had lost his life for nothing.

Afon hummed and rolled her over, his mouth lingering over skin that belonged to Paul. Skin Paul would never touch again, because it occurred to Cassie that even though he might forgive her, she would never forgive herself for this. She had sacrificed Paul twice now for someone else. It wasn't supposed to be that way, and even as the perfume on her wrists kept her from being the smelly imprint, the scent on the rest of her made her the fucked up one. She could never face him like this, not now, not ever.

Never ever after.

"If I killed your bodyguard, then no one will ever find him, Ksana. Does it even matter?"

There was nothing she could say to that. So she closed her eyes, and she thought about everything that she loved about her sister, about her father, about her mother, about life. She thought about Baba's prianik medoviy, and cheeseburgers that only Collin could order right, and an Alpha's arm around her shoulders as he poured his affection into her through her bond to a wolf. She thought about ice cream on a pier, and a perfect fouetté on a broad muscled back, and inedible eggs that were eaten anyways. She thought about pill bottles rolling on a floor, and beautiful caramel eyes, and watching a hard man soften from love. She thought about holding a hand that held hers in return, and lying about liking the Lakers, and kissing a beautiful man, a _good_ man, who had more important things to be doing than being at her door at three in the morning.

She thought about that man. That bored looking man standing outside a mall movie theatre, his muscled arms crossed as he casually checked out the girls walking by, his eyes drifting to one that may have deliberately bent to look in her bags for nothing at all, just on a whim, just to try and catch his eye. She thought about a man she loved more than anything, with the exception of maybe her family, and how that made her a traitor of the worst sort. A traitor who would still make the same decisions every single time.

And when every inch of Little Red had been reminded that the Hunter was the worst thing in these woods, Afon rolled over and fell asleep. It was now or never.

Cassie had never spent much time here growing up. The flat was expensive, luxurious, a sign of prestige, but her father had always chosen to make that longer drive home at the end of every night, sacrificing sleep for a few more moments with his family. Still, she was familiar enough with the layout to slip quietly out of bed, carefully not to wake the slumbering beast, and pad across thick carpet to the bathroom. She turned the shower on, knowing the noise from the water would give her a reason to have escaped Afon's bed without him coming searching for her. She even wrapped a thick towel around herself as an alibi, just in case she was discovered. The hot water was tempting, she wanted badly to let it scour her skin, but instead Cassie snuck into the large study at the far side of the flat. The only guards were outside the front door, meaning Cassie was unobserved as she started rifling through the heavy mahogany desk, keeping one eye on the door.

Koldan had told her what to look for, but it wasn't going to be easy to find. They needed something big, some bad enough to blackmail Afon Cherkov out of their lives permanently. Something that showed he was blackmailing them, or something that tied him to the one of several illegal business dealings that Afon's other, less…respectable business partners partook in. They needed something that could put Cherkov in jail, or put one of his business partners in jail, which would be blamed on Afon and possibly get him killed by those who didn't appreciate their business dealings being spilled to the authorities. They didn't actually have to do it, the threat would be enough to back Afon off, to regain the authority necessary to once again be able to protect their family. Koldan had been brutally honest. They were in too deep and could never fully extract themselves from being under Afon's thumb, but anything was better than this.

Cassie agreed.

As she dug, she wondered what this meant for her. If she found something, if she helped her father, would that be her redemption? Or was she destined to be her father's daughter and beyond redemption? She had seen the look in his eyes, Ivan Fedorov had given up. When she had left the conference room earlier, her eyes reddened and her face pale, he had merely looked the other way. He was a broken man who would never recover from this, and Cassie wondered if like all the lambs laid out for slaughter, Little Bo Peep must lay quiet like her sheep, her story already done, her ending already decided.

It didn't matter, because she couldn't find anything. Koldan had given her the code to the safe, but nothing was in there that could help. Frustrated and frightened of what would happen if Afon woke up and found her in here instead of in the shower, Cassie quickly moved on to the filing cabinets. Paperwork? Yes. Anything incriminating? No. Everything was neatly labeled, impeccably organized, and was even separated into solo and joint ventures, but she _still_ couldn't find anything worthwhile. Bastard knew how to cover his tracks. She even looked behind the cabinets for hidden folders, behind the wall hangings for hidden safes, beneath the furniture for hidden supply boxes. Nothing, or at least nothing she could find. Maybe there was something here, maybe something that could help them, but it was so buried that it would take her days, reading through every piece of paper. She just didn't have that kind of—

"You know, darling, all you had to do was ask, and I would have shown you anything you wanted," Afon chuckled from the doorway, his arms crossed over his bare chest as he leaned his slacks clad hip against the doorjamb. Cassie froze, and then clutched her towel tighter as she sat back on her heels. She had been peering under his desk for a hidden tape recorder, and even though she had carefully closed every drawer she had looked in, it was obvious that she had been searching through his things. Cassie shivered when his lip quirked up in a smile. "It doesn't become you, Ksana, scurrying around like a little mouse in search of cheese."

Cassie plastered on her smile, standing up and leaning her hip against the desk, letting her towel slip around her sexily. "I don't know, Afon, I would do a _lot_ for the right kind of cheese. I love cheese, but then again, who _doesn't_ love cheese? Especially the expensive sharp cheddars and creamy goudas, not that anyone would want any of that crummy Kraft singles cheese that they sell in America. Yuck. Cheese is one of those things that has to be-"

His hand on her jaw, giving her head a small, hard shake, rattled the words right out of her mouth. Afon made a clucking noise with his tongue in disapproval.

"Chatter annoys me, Ksanochka, you know this," he told her smoothly before dropping his hand and moving past her. Cassie tried to pretend that the action hadn't shaken her, she kept her smile plastered and her body relaxed. Of course she knew it annoyed him. Cassie did a hundred things a day deliberately in passive aggressive resistance just because she knew it annoyed him. She was the queen of passive aggressive resistance, because it was the only resistance she was allowed that wouldn't get her hurt.

Afon stepped over to a closet, opened it and pulled off a small wooden cigar box from the very top shelf, a shelf she never could have reached. He set it on the desk next to her, casually dumping the cigars onto the smooth wooden surface as he pulled out the fake bottom of the box. Inside were several small tapes, and Afon found a specific one, holding it up for her inspection.

"I assume this is what you were looking for?" Afon asked smoothly, and he slipped the tape into a tiny tape recorder that had been in his pocket. "Here, darling, I'll play it for you, and you can tell me if it's the right one." His smile was too wide, victory gleaming in his eyes, and Cassie cringed as the voices came over the small scratchy speaker.

The first was her father, begging Afon to leave their family alone, to leave his daughter Ksanochka alone. Ivan Fedorov would do _anything_, just please, let his family be, don't hurt them. The second was Afon, who wasn't particularly interested in killing Ivan's family. Cherkov wanted the highly respected Fedorov family name as a screen to run his less respectable business dealings behind, he wanted the foreign investors that that would be more inclined to jump in bed with Fedorov than Cherkov, and he wanted Ksanochka. The rest of Fedorov's family would be just fine. In fact, Cherkov was planning on keeping very positive public relations with the Fedorov family, to cement the legitimacy of their partnership. Marriage to Ksanochka would cement it even further, and no one would question it. After all, Fedorov was legendary in his honesty, and who wouldn't be enchanted with Fedorov's beautiful and talented daughter?

It continued, making Cassie shrink inside of herself as she listened to her father fight for her, then fight less for her, then give her up entirely for the sake of the rest of his family. She had told Paul that she had hoped her father had entered into his business dealings with Afon as a way to give her back her respectability. In truth, he had sold her and the family name to save her mother and her sister. And she couldn't blame him for that, not really. Be hurt by it, yes, but not blame him. Paul had told her not to let people treat her badly just because she loved them, but some things weren't as easy, weren't as black and white as in Paul's world. Ivan Fedorov had always judged things as right or wrong, and Cassie teared up when she heard her father finally break down and sob, even as he agreed.

Afon stopped the tape and put his hand on Cassie's face. She pushed it away, but then he snatched her up, holding her trapped between himself and the desk. "See, Ksana?" the devil purred. "You've been mine for a while now."

"I don't belong to you," Cassie whispered, although there were tears rolling down her face. "I belong to…"

"To who, Ksana?" Afon chuckled, patting her hip fondly. "To your Paul? Interesting that my marksman missed him, but then again, you always enjoyed interesting people. Like that family that owns the bakery in Seattle, or that bouncer at the bar you tried to buy, or that slew of American natives you seem so fascinated with. Honestly, Ksanochka, do you really think for one second I have let you out of my sight? Do you really think that I would let you belong to _anyone_ but me? Did you really think that coming here would distract me from them? Ksana, darling, I have people in both Seattle and Forks as we speak. All it takes is a single phone call and it's done. You know better than this."

Her tears began to fall faster, and she was begging, because Afon liked begging. "Please don't hurt them. Please, _please_ don't hurt any of them."

"Take the rubber band off, Ksana, and I'll call off my people," Afon whispered in her ear. "Take it off and break it. All you have is me, darling, all you _need_ is me."

"I don't need you," she said in a small hard voice, although she was staring straight ahead, biting her trembling lip. "I still have me."

"We can do this metaphorically or we can do this in reality, Ksanochka," Afon smirked. "Let them go, or I take them all. We've played this game long enough, you know I'll always win. I gave you your time to run, and here you are, right back in my hands, because _all you have is me_. Say it, Ksana. In fact, I'll even give you your little tape, and you can go running back to your family with it. Give it to Koldan, see what he does with it. But tell me first, Ksana, what's the only thing you have left?"

"You," Cassie choked out, bowing her head from the shame of denying her Pack, her lover, her life. Her father traded her for her mother and sister. She was no better. She was trading Paul for a tape.

Afon curled around her closer, his hot breath on her neck. "What's the only thing you _need_, Ksana?"

"You," she responded, tasting blood in her mouth from biting her lip so hard.

"Take off the rubber band, darling, and put this on instead." She didn't look at the gold ring he slipped on her finger, she only stared at the piece of rubber that was shakily pulled from her finger and placed in his waiting hand, her dream, her fairy tale snapped and tossed in the trashcan next to the desk. Chuckling, kissed her temple lightly, and tossed the tape on the desk next to her. "Good girl," he smirked. "I'll be interested in what you manage to do with this, Ksanochka. I honestly don't believe it will be enough for Ivan to save himself, he's quite given up on the whole thing, but I have other interests today. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a personal matter to attend to and you have a shower to take."

Then he was gone, and it occurred to Cassie that she had danced with the devil for nothing. She had betrayed Paul for _nothing_. Still, Cassie fished her fairy tale out of the trash and retied it with trembling hands, because she wasn't done, not quite yet. After all, she still had a couple parts left to break, and as long as she still had them, she was still something. She may be a fool, but she had never been a coward. Sticking the audio tape in her basket and leaving the gold ring next to an empty baggie on the bathroom counter, Little Red gathered up her smack and her duct tape and prayed her glue would hold just a little longer.

She turned the page to the last chapter.

* * *

The nice thing about travelling with Seth was that the Beta could hold even Paul's raging emotions so contained that he could function, could hold them without even trying that hard. Of course there were several different levels of functioning, and after nearly getting them thrown out of the airport twice for 'attitude issues', Seth had just put a full emotional whammy on Paul. It was the wolf equivalent of a bottle full of sedatives, and if Paul had been a lesser wolf, he would be passed out and drooling somewhere back in the airport security line. As it was, Paul was being quiet, congenial, and maybe just a little bit quirky.

After all, his wolf had lost its goddamn mind. That always messed with a guy just a tad.

"You get the feeling that Jake's pissed at me?" Seth asked absently, tearing his napkin into little strips and twisting them into two inch long ropes.

"Occurred to me," Paul said mildly, oh so mildly. His napkin wasn't ropes. His napkin was neatly lined up in the circular cup holder on his tray, perfectly parallel to the tray edges, his half full plastic cup of ginger ale centered on the white paper square. A cup on a napkin, a circle on a square, and yet when arranged just right, it didn't seem odd at all.

"Maybe I should have left Leah at home," Seth murmured, starting to tie his ropes together with tiny little knots. "Maybe in hindsight that was a stupid thing to do."

"But you didn't and now it's done," Paul said calmly. Very very calmly. "Jake will get over it." Paul was pretty sure this counted as being Beta ordered to participate in the conversation, but he was much too centered to file a complaint. Instead he adjusted his napkin.

"I think I got used to being in charge," Seth admitted, and his elbow bumped Paul's shoulder. "I think I'm _too_ used to it, too used to being able to do things my way. Can you believe that it actually pissed me off a little when Jake ordered me to stay at home? I'm never pissed at Jake's orders."

For the hundredth time, Paul wished he was with anyone on this plane _but_ Seth, and then _Paul_ would have the aisle seat and someone else would be stuck in the center. Of course, anyone but Seth would mean that Paul would be a fluffy ball of pissed-off fur hovering over the Pacific Ocean, but that wasn't the point. The seventeen year old girl next to them in the window seat looked to be on the verge of having an orgasm just sitting beside them, and Paul sighed each time she 'accidentally' brushed his arm. Seth however caught her staring and winked. She went crimson and giggled.

"Seth?" Paul muttered to his Beta, rubbing his eyes.

"Hmm?"

"In twelve hours of forced proximity, even _you_ can figure out how to get laid," Paul stated calmly. "I however am an engaged man who has no interest in girls eight years younger than my fiancé. Switch with me."

"No way, man," Seth complained, "I have the aisle."

Paul gestured at the girl next to them with his thumb, who managed to get even redder as she stared at them both. "Yes, Seth, but she has breasts."

"Switching," Seth chirped, nearly taking off Paul's tray table in his haste. He plopped down next to the girl and gave her a sexy grin. "Hey shorty."

Paul would have groaned, but that showed annoyance and Paul wasn't annoyed. Nope, not at all. Not wanting to shred the seat in front of him to tiny bits of fabric, not wanting to gnaw his tray table into miniscule little pieces. Nope. Not Paul. Paul was quiet, and contemplative, and content to stretch his legs out into the aisle. Then he noticed a heavyset middle aged woman, eyeing him and Seth nearly as lustfully as the teenager had been. Lord, could they ever get away from this shit? At least when Cass was around, she was pretty enough to make the other girls keep their eyes to themselves.

"That's why I want an ugly imprint," Seth mumbled under his breath to Paul, and Paul mentally groaned, although physically he very carefully handed Seth back his pile of tiny twisted paper ropes. He just as carefully transferred his napkin and cup to his new tray table, taking his time to arrange it just so. All the while he hummed. It was a quiet little ditty, by a band that enjoyed singing songs about finding people you didn't like and crushing them into itty bitty sloppy Russian pieces…

"Paul, you cool, man?" Seth asked, quirking an eyebrow. So maybe he had accidentally crushed the armrest in his hand. At least he had done it calmly.

"I'm perfectly fine, Seth."

The Beta seemed dubious. "Paul? You realize that you _not_ cool will probably down this plane, right? And we're over the _ocean_."

"It had occurred to me."

The girl sitting next to Seth was now staring at Paul with wide eyes and Seth grinned, patting her reassuringly on the knee. "Don't worry, babe, I got him handled."

Paul smiled. Why? Because Seth wanted him to smile, Seth wanted him tranquil and happy and that was what he was. He wasn't even concerned about the fact that his imprint wasn't answering her phone. He wasn't concerned that his relentless calls to Cassie's home while waiting in the airport had only proven what he had been afraid of all along. He wasn't concerned about the fact that when he got on the plane, he could feel something from his imprint, but now all he could get from her was this numbed emptiness, as if the girl was feeling absolutely nothing at all.

What had she _done_, that she was that numb? What had she done that she _needed_ to be that numb? What had _he_ done, to let it happen? In Paul's head, the wolf bit him, the _**asshole-**_.

"Happy thoughts, Paul," Seth chirped brightly, winking at the girl next to him.

Paul smiled happily and rearranged his napkin all over again.

* * *

Once upon a time, a little girl wanted to grow up to be a princess. So the king and the queen put her on a stage for everyone to see, and she danced and she danced and all the land saw her and loved her. Especially the prince. The prince loved her too much, and it wasn't really love at all, so he stole the princess away, off to his tower in the sky, high high up in the sky...

"Dammit, Ksanochka," Nastassja hissed in humiliation, grabbing Cassie by the arm and hustling her through the house as the servants stared. "Did you have to take so _much_? You're as high as a kite. Oh my god, what are all these scrapes on your arms? Did Cherkov do this to you?"

"I scrubbed and scrubbed but the prince wouldn't come off," Cassie whispered, and she was only vaguely aware of her mother looking at her in disgust. "I promised Paul, but the smell wouldn't come off…"

"Paul? As in Paul Coho from the States?" Nastassja asked in utter annoyance. "He somehow got our number and has been calling repeatedly, screaming at the servants to find you and get you on the phone. Really, Ksana, do your choices in men have to always be so uncouth? I finally had to speak to him to get him to stop calling."

"Paul called here?" Cassie asked, coming down a little as her mother's words sank in. "What did he say?" Her mother hurried her to a sitting room, forcing Cassie down into a chaise lounge. She poured Cassie a glass of water and shoved it under her nose.

"Drink that, all of it. And why it matters what he said, I have no idea-"

"Mother, _what did he say_?" the imprint practically yelled, causing her mother to look shocked then angry in turns.

Nastassja drew herself up stiffly and sniffed. "He simply demanded to know where you were, and when I informed him that you were with Afon Cherkov for the evening and weren't expected back until the morning, he said something quite uncouth and hung up the phone. He hasn't called since."

Paul knew Afon's name, knew what that name meant, and Paul was coming. He had given her two days, but now he was coming and when he found out what had happened, Afon was a dead man. Paul would kill him in the name of protecting his imprint. He would turn into a killer for her, not a killer of wolves or vampires, but a killer of men. And in killing Afon, her Paul would never be the same again. If Afon died with her family still tied in so tightly, even Koldan wouldn't be able to protect them all. Ani, her father, her mother…Cassie went cold. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was _never_ supposed to be like this. The Big Bad Wolf was coming, and he was going to shred the book apart, regardless of the consequences. She had to…she had to do something, but she didn't know what.

Ani. She had to find Ani and Koldan, to warn them.

"Mother, where's Ani?" Cassie asked. Nastassja didn't answer, and instead of meeting Cassie's eyes, she cringed and looked away. "Mother? Mother, _where's Ani_?"

"She left this morning," Nastassja said quietly, and her eyes flickered, just a touch, but it was enough.

"With who?" Silence, then her voice full of dread. "Mother? _With who_?"

"Your sister's business is her own affair, Ksanochka," Nastassja said in a voice that said she was trying to convince herself. "And of course, Cherkov was highly disappointed in you, you just _had_ to ruin things like you _always_ have. He came by and spoke with me, said that he couldn't take to wife a woman that had become as _experienced_ as you. He was kind, but everyone knows that you're nothing but a high dollar whore these days, Ksana, even if no one is impolite enough to say it. Thankfully your father and Koldan were gone on business, or he would have been humiliated. But we're still all right, no thanks to you, child. Your sister is eighteen in a few days and Cherkov expressed interest in perhaps continuing an arranged marriage, and I agreed for the family's sake. Ani was reluctant, but she at least understands her duty to us, the way you never did. They left for the family home in Rostov Veliky early this morning."

With every word, Cassie had felt the blood drain from her face, from her limbs, disappearing somewhere into the floor. Her baby sister. Her baby sister _alone_ with _him_…

Cassie looked up at her mother, her pretty hazel eyes flashing. "You traded Ani for money," she stated softly. Nastassja flinched, but gave Cassie a cold angry look.

"I did what I had to for _all_ of us," Nastassja hissed. "I had to do it to protect us! We'll be ruined-"

She was small, and she was weak, and she would probably always be that way. But little Cassie stood up and stared at her mother, and there was no coldness there, not in her. Instead there was terror and a white hot anger, the two tied together and so strong that it left a man a thousand miles away nearly tearing a plane apart, his Beta using everything the Beta had to contain him. "I would rather be _ruined_, rather have my whole world _shattered_, than to let anything happen to my family! I would hurt and I would bleed, I would beg and I would steal to protect them! I would do all of that, I _have_ done all of that to protect you, to protect daddy and Ani and Koldan. But you _sold_ her to a _monster_, you sold her for _money_. You have no idea what it means to protect someone!"

Cassie shivered as closed her eyes, then she pulled a tape out of her pocket, a tape she had traded herself for, probably pointlessly. She set it down on the end table next to her, whispering, "Daddy at least tried, and I'm going to go try, too. I won't leave Ani to suffer for your and his mistakes, the way I never should have suffered for them either. Give the tape to my father, and whether it helps or not, please tell him I tried."

"You're high, Ksanochka," Nastassja snarled. "You don't know what you're saying, and you don't know what you're doing. Ksanochka! Don't you _dare_ go where I think you're going!"

But Cassie was already walking, already running, as hard as her ruined legs could take her. The garage had cars, fast cars that could get her where she needed to be, even if Nastassja was still screaming at her, telling her if she ruined this for them then she was disowned, to never come back. Well, that was okay, because to be honest, Cassie didn't want to come back. Not to this world, not anymore.

It was a very long drive to Rostov Veliky, but it didn't take her nearly as long as it should have. Her high was gone, taking the numbness with it, and Paul had locked in on her again because of that. Cassie was doing everything she could to contain her rampaging emotions. Her phone was still turned off, but Cassie was frightened to turn it back on, frightened that if she heard Paul's voice she would cave, would let her fear overwhelm her and make her stay in place, make her wait for him to come rescue her and Ani both. Only Cassie knew exactly what Afon could do, what he would do, and there were things that could happen in minutes that would wreck a girl like Ani, like Cassie had been, for the rest of her life. So Cassie drove the way her Pack would have never let her drive if they had known, the gas pedal punched to the floor. There was a lot they had never know, but that was Cassie's fault, not theirs. Cassie had made her choices, and maybe they had been the wrong ones, but they had been hers.

God, she had tried so _hard_ to save herself.

Her family's home here in Rostov Veliky was smaller, meant for summers spent together, for her mother's garden parties and her father's friends gathering together and sharing stories of the good old times. It was meant for happier memories, not like screaming at a guard that he had better open the gates and let her through before she ran him over with her car. She did things like that now, she was the attack imprint and she was good at attacking. The guard, one of Afon's men who didn't understand half of what she was saying, refused. However a call up to the main house, empty except for a pair of body guards loyal to Cherkov's endless bankroll, said that she could be let in. Providing of course that they search her car and herself, after all Ksanochka was good at having tricks up her sleeve, and Afon wasn't interested in having a Koldan in her trunk being one of those tricks.

She should have called Koldan. Dammit, she should have called Koldan, but all she had been able to think of was Paul. She was so, so very _stupid_…Stupid was running past the expressionless guards at the front door, darting into the kitchen and grabbing the closest weapon she could find. Stupid was taking the steps two at a time and having no clue what she was going to do once she got to the master guestroom. Stupid was seeing her sister lying on the bed, curled up in a little ball and sobbing her heart out, and almost rushing into the bathroom where the sound of someone urinating could be heard, intent on bashing his head in.

Smart was setting the rolling pin down.

It wouldn't bash his head in that well anyways, and would only get her hurt more in a struggle. Smart was putting her finger to her lips as she slipped into the room, making sure that Afon couldn't hear her just yet. Ani let out a small cry when she saw who had entered the room, and she half fell off the bed as she scrambled to Cassie. Cassie shook her head when the younger girl tried to collapse in her arms. Ani could collapse later, because the toilet had just flushed and the sound of running water could be heard. Silently, Cassie pulled her sister out of the room, adrenaline making her tremble as she darted down the hall with Ani in tow. Cassie heard the bathroom door open and she jerked Ani into her father's study, shutting the door and locking it behind her.

"Ani, get something in front of the door!" Cassie gasped, darting to her father's desk, thinking that she had rifled through his things more in the last twenty-four hours than in the last twenty-five years. "Ani! _Quickly_!"

Ani was in shock, it was easy to see. She must have tried to pull her sundress back on when Afon had been done with her, but it was askew and there was a small blood stain on the fabric by her knees. Seeing it made Cassie's heart twist, her memories flooding back. Ani however wasn't quite the gentle soul everyone had always taken her for, because when she heard Afon's voice, calling both their names from down the hall, amusement in his tone, she let out a snarled curse and grabbed a chair, trying to shove it under the handle.

"Ksana, Ani, aren't you two girls a little old for hide and seek?"

"_Fuck you_!" Ani cried, although tears were streaming down her face and she screamed in fright when a heavy fist smacked the door.

"As often as I like, Ania," Afon chuckled through the wood. "Just ask your sister, she's been mine for years. Ksana, tell me darling that this isn't your rescue attempt?"

"Ani, call Koldan, and then call the cops," Cassie hissed, throwing her phone at her sister, who fumbled with the buttons as she tried to turn it on. "Koldan's on speed dial, number five. Ani, _hurry_!"

"I'm _trying_!" Ani yelled back, her voice cracking in fear as the handle jiggled violently. "Koldan? _Koldan_! I'm at the Rostov house! Afon, he's…" she cried out again when Afon punched the door. "_Koldan, please_-"

Cassie's phone died. After all she hadn't thought to bring a phone charger, not when she had a Rubix cube and a rubber band to take care of. Ani looked at it in horror and then scrambled backwards, realizing that they were cornered. It wasn't like they would have been able to get out of the house anyways, not past the guards out front, and the whole property was fenced. They were caught, but Cassie wasn't caged, not yet.

"Where is it, _where is it_?" Cassie gasped, throwing folders on the ground as she started panicking. She couldn't find it. The door stopped jiggling for a moment, and then it all went silent. Ani let out a small cry of fear and sank down to the carpet, her shoulders to the wall and her hand finding a paperweight that Cassie had knocked over onto the floor. There was something that was supposed to be here, the reason why they were always supposed to stay out of their father's things, but Cassie just couldn't _find_ it.

The sad part about it all, was when someone had the keys to your whole life, they often had the keys to your study door.

"Syestra," Ani whispered, terrified as the door swung and with a negligent shove, Afon pushed it into the chair, opening the door wide. Little Red clicked the safety off the gun, and her little hands shook as she wheeled and pointed it at the Hunter, after all Roman had taught her how to use one of these things a year ago. She would never pick up one to protect herself, but her sister…well, that was a different story.

"Go away, Afon," Cassie whispered shakily, taking a step in front of her sister. "Just let us leave, that's all we want."

Afon looked at the gun in her hands and smirked. "Darling, put that away before I actually get annoyed. Is this because I broke off our engagement? Honestly I thought that was what you wanted, and I was just trying to make you happy." He took a step forward and Cassie took an instinctive step back, her hands shaking more. His smile turned cruel. "You won't do it, Ksana, or you would have sicced your hired gun on me months ago. He was a good one, he could have taken me out, but you know what'll happen then. Tell me, Ksana, do you think your father will die in prison, or do you think they'll get to him before then?"

"Just let us go, Afon," Cassie begged, her legs hitting Ani's. "Please, you won, just let us go."

Afon took another step forward, and Ani was crying, crying harder. Cassie had cried too, but there had been no one to pick her up, no one to stand between her and this monster, not then, not now. Maybe one day, if Paul still loved her, she'd finally cry to him. Maybe he'd hold her until the tears were gone and everything would be okay again, the way she had promised Koldan things would be. Paul was her wolf, you see, and he loved her, and one day everything would turn out the way it was supposed to turn out. And they'd get married and her father would walk her down the aisle and they would all live happily ever after…

The Hunter lunged for Little Red. She didn't pull the trigger.

She tried, but she couldn't. She just couldn't do that, not even to him, not even to protect herself. She gave, she didn't take. She loved, she didn't hurt. And in the end she was her father's daughter, destined to make the same mistakes, in the end she was a fool, but in the end she was still her, and someone somewhere understood that. Cassie never wanted Paul to be a killer. She never wanted to be a killer either, not now, not ever.

Ani screamed when Cassie was knocked backwards, the gun flying across the carpet. The younger sister flung herself at Afon as he snatched Cassie up, his fist around the older girl's throat, choking her. Ani managed to crack Afon over the head with her paperweight, and he let out a snarl of rage, loosening his grip on Cassie's throat slightly. Ani fought as Cassie twisted and gasped, Ani's nails clawing and scratching at his eyes. Furious, Afon dropped Cassie, and as the world went fuzzy, the imprint watched Ani get struck across the face so hard that the young girl went flying back and smacked her head on the wall. Ani slumped as Cassie crawled on her knees towards her sister, screaming at Afon to stop. Afon took a stride towards the Ani, his face murderous, but then Cassie's knee hit something hard, and she picked it up.

He turned around at the first click, and eyes widened in surprise, the Hunter hit the floor, dead. Little Red had unloaded a full clip into his chest.

Paul's glue gave completely. And even though she cried out in horror and stumbled for his body, her mouth sealed over Afon's as she tried to force the air back in his lungs, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put the Afon Cherkov back together again. They wouldn't even try, because even though Afon's guards came rushing up at the sounds of gunfire, in seeing their employer dead, they bolted. Ani crawled over beside her sister, whose little hands were covered in blood that couldn't be staunched. Ksana, he's dead. Syestra! He's dead, what do they do? Only syestra wasn't there anymore, she was bent over, sobbing brokenly. What had she done, what had she _done_…?

There was blood on Afon's cell phone, now on Ani's cheek as she called her father, her and Ksana killed someone, what do they do? Daddy, _what do they do_? Stay there, and for goodness sakes, Ani, _don't call the police_. Ivan would take care of it, just don't call the police. And then Koldan was there, flinging himself through the study door and snatching up Ani like she was the most precious thing he had ever known, but as he looked around, he realized that there was no undoing this. It was already too late. Things were set in motion that couldn't be stopped, and Koldan had never been one to hesitate. He called Ivan Fedorov, told Ivan that Koldan loved him and would never forget his kindness. That he was so very sorry, but if he got her away from Ivan, Ani might have a better chance. And then Koldan disappeared, taking his beloved Ania with him.

He would have taken Ksanochka too, but it was too late for her as well. Little Red was long gone.

* * *

The worst part wasn't when Paul felt Cassie blow apart through the imprint bond. The worst part was when she finally shattered, all of her parts scattering to the winds, Paul felt absolutely nothing at all.

At first Paul had thought she was dead, and in thinking so, Paul had lost his mind. It showed how damn smart their leader was that the Alpha had sent the only other wolf capable of controlling Paul with him. Still, half the airplane was convinced they were psychotic, or at least Paul was, considering Seth had to pin him to his chair and snarl order after order in his ear in Quileute to keep him from phasing and tearing the plane from the sky. The girl next to them was no longer blushing, she was pressed to the window in terror, and if there had been any empty seats left in the plane, she would have crawled over people to get away from the two men.

The stewardesses stopped giving them pretzels when Paul started making pained keening noises, his nose buried against his Beta as he felt his imprint slipping away.

Eventually when his heart was broken but still beating in his chest, Paul realized that no, Cass was alive. It kept him sane, gave him something to focus on so that he too didn't fall apart. Whatever had happened, Paul couldn't fix it if he was in pieces. He had to be strong, he had to be big, and he had to handle this. Even with Seth's help, it was the hardest thing he had ever done.

When they finally landed in Moscow and Seth was given first rights to drag Paul off the plane, the airport authorities came to escort them from the premises. No one really had the time or the patience for that. Paul was all for eating them, but Seth merely smiled and gave the nearest two a hard enough shove to send the whole lot of them falling into a pile. By the time they had untangled themselves, the two American were long gone, although it had only seemed like a blink of an eye. Technically, it had occurred in about half that time.

When Jake was around, Seth had a tendency of slipping into the background, but when it came down to it, the Beta was _strong_. Strong enough to hold Paul from phasing until Paul had stripped off his clothes and tied them to his thigh, it wouldn't do to show up at the Fedorov home bare ass naked. Not that they knew where the Fedorov home was, they had just planned on using the imprint bond to track Cassie down the moment their paws hit earth. But she wasn't there, not really, she was a shell that he couldn't lock onto, and that frightened Paul more than anything. So Seth made a few calls, quite probably stole an English-Russian dictionary, and tracked down their imprint's family home. However when they hopped the back fence unnoticed by the terrified looking guards, Seth whistled through his teeth once at the opulence around them, and then released Paul to do as he wished.

Mostly. Seth wasn't stupid.

Paul could smell his imprint, although her scent was fading, and he followed that scent more than he followed the path up to the house, his Beta cautiously trailing at his heels. There were people scurrying around as if panicked, and whatever was panicking them wasn't the two unarmed and obviously American men. In fact, it was almost too easy to slip into the house. The Third had stopped fighting himself the moment they landed, what was done was done, and now they were here. They had a mate to find. So Paul padded through the house, ignoring the questioning of a wide eyed maid as he sidestepped her and climbed the stairs. He passed several doors, knowing instinctively they were the wrong ones, and then opened the next.

For a moment Paul couldn't move, letting the scent of his imprint wash over him in waves. His girl. _His_. Damn, he had to find her.

"This Cass's room?" Seth asked quietly from behind Paul's shoulder as the older wolf paused in the doorway. "Kind of bare, isn't it? The rest of this place is decked to the gills."

Seth was right. The room was massive, far larger than Paul's home, but it was as barren as her hotel suite had been the first time he had walked in. Paul slipped into her bedroom and walked around it once, inhaling deeply. Cass had been here too, recently, but not recently enough. There were a couple other scents in here that he recognized. Ani's he had memorized the moment Paul realized how much Cassie loved her. Koldan was here too, but much fainter. Another man fainter still, his scent of cigars and alcohol and lust. Not realizing that he was snarling deep in his throat, Paul memorized that scent. That was the one he needed to find. That this man had been in his imprint's room…

There was another, smaller scent that caught Paul's notice, but he ignored it. It was ridiculous anyways, he would have known if Cass had brought her squirrel to Russia.

Seth stayed quiet, merely watching Paul hunt his way back down the stairs. There was soft music coming from one of the back rooms, and even though Paul knew Cass wasn't there, the scent of the person that was there was similar enough to his imprint that Paul followed the music down a different hall. It was a media room, furnished in expensive fabrics, with one of the largest television screens that Paul had ever seen. There was a woman seated primly in the front row as she watched a home movie, her legs crossed perfectly and her hands resting in her lap, but Paul ignored her. The wolf only had eyes for the screen.

Paul had never seen his imprint dance. He had entered her life when dancing was a memory, a bittersweet one that she wasn't particularly happy speaking about, and he had only caught glimpses of that dancer that Cass had used to be. Messing around with Collin and burning up the clubs was different, he knew that, but the difference had never been clearer than now. Paul didn't know the name of the ballet, or the role she was dancing, or what any of it meant. All he knew was that here she was, his imprint, the girl he been trying to find buried deep within the layers of defenses Cassie had erected around herself. Here his imprint's face was soft, serene, blissful as she slipped across the stage into her partner's arms. Her body moved gracefully alongside her partner's, the music sliding down her limbs and she was lifted and then lowered into a slow pirouette, her every motion so fucking _beautiful_ that it floored him.

"Wow," was about the best Seth could say. Paul felt the word lacking.

"She was stunning, wasn't she?" the woman spoke suddenly in nearly perfect English, not having been oblivious to their arrival. "She was too short, too slender, her toes not quite right. But when she danced, it was as if the world faded away. Everyone had to stop, had to listen to words she never even said out loud. When she danced, Ksana owned us all. She was just…stunning."

"She still is," Paul said in a voice thick with emotion, and Seth put a warning hand on his shoulder when the woman snorted derisively. She turned, and when hazel eyes locked with Paul's, it was obvious that this was Cassie's mother. This was what his imprint would look like in twenty years, and Nastassja Fedorova would have been equally stunning in her own right, that was if that look of despair and disgust wasn't marring her features.

"I would choose a different word for her these days. I take it you are some of Ksana's _friends_ from America?" Nastassja said derisively. "Or are you hired guns? If that's the case, then you're too late, my husband has already gone to the authorities to confess to Afon Cherkov's murder. If you're here to kill me, please make it quick. If you're here to kill him, I apologize for the disappointment."

"We're not here to kill anyone, ma'am," Seth said gently, and even as Paul's head rang with the words that the bastard was dead, he could see what Seth saw. Nastassja's hands were shaking violently, and her dilated pupils were rimmed in tears. Seth stepped over to Cassie's mother and knelt in front of her, giving her a comforting smile. "We're just here to find Ksanochka. She's Paul's fiancée, and we're both a little worried about her. We need to go find her, but we'd appreciate it if you could help us know where to start looking, and if someone's threatening you, we can protect you too."

Nastassja gave Seth a cold glare, before turning her eyes to Paul. "Ksanochka's fiancée? So _you're_ the reason she betrayed us all. You're the reason we're all ruined. _Get out of my house._"

"Ma'am-" Seth tried again, but Nastassja was on her feet, shoving at Seth's shoulders.

"Get out of my house! _Get out_!" she shrieked, but then she started crying hysterically, babbling in Russian, and Seth caught her as she slumped back down. He gave Paul a helpless look even as he picked Nastassja up and set her down on one of the chairs. Paul hated this woman. He hated this woman because she had turned on his imprint, and he would never be okay with that. But Nastassja knew where Cass was, or had been, and he needed her more than he hated her. So Paul sat down next to the woman that he would never consider his mother-in-law and took her face gently in his hands, making her look at him.

"Mrs. Fedorova, where's Cassie?"

"Ksana can go to _hell_, for all I care anymore," Nastassja declared brokenly, although she began sobbing again. "They're all gone, and it's all her fault. Ivan, and Ani, and Koldan…it's _all_ her fault."

"What did she do? Mrs. Fedorova, what did Cass do?"

"Everything was okay," the woman babbled, as if trying to convince herself of the truth of her words. "Everything was still okay, and I told her not to go! I told her not to go to the summer house, but she went, and now…she…because of her…"

Paul fought down his urge to shake this woman so she could never speak a cruel word about his Cass again, but instead he made his voice as gently as possible and repeated his question. "Mrs. Fedorova, what did Cassie do?"

"_She killed Afon Cherkov_," Nastassja whispered, as if it was the worst thing that could have ever happened. "_She killed us all_."

Paul cursed and let her go, standing up and walking away so that if he phased, he wouldn't hurt the human in the room. His eyes fell to the screen, where Cassie was spinning and spinning, so very fast, her smile soft and beautiful and real. His imprint. His imprint how she had used to be, but not anymore. These fucking people had stripped her of everything, this fucking place had broken her. Dead wasn't this stupid bitch still surrounded by her money and her things. Dead was—

Mid-thought, Paul calmed himself. Actually, Seth calmed Paul's self. Seth had clamped down on Paul again, but his hold wasn't good because the Beta was pissed too. Really really pissed.

Seth left Nastassja sobbing in her chair and went to Paul. His face was serious and worried. "What do you know that I don't?" Seth asked in Quileute, eyeing Cassie's mother.

"Afon is a dick that hurt my imprint really fucking bad. I think I smelled him in her room upstairs, and he owns this pathetic excuse for a family," Paul snapped. "If Afon's dead, though, then they're all screwed. They were all tied up in some bad shit together, which is why Cass wouldn't let me intervene. She loves life, man, more than fucking anything else, and if she killed someone, then no wonder she's lost it. We have to find her, and we have to get her the hell out of this goddamn country. She's in a lot of shit right now, that's as far as I know. Come on, I know what town their other place is in, and Jake'll have Bella track down the address on our way."

"What about her?" Seth asked, watching Nastassja unhappily. "That's Cass's family, we can't just leave her, not if she's in trouble."

Paul switched to English and met Nastassja's eyes. Whatever she saw there frightened her enough to cringe away. "Seth, if your mother sold Leah to the highest goddamn bidder, knowing he would rape Leels anytime he fucking felt like it, would you still save her ass?" The Beta stared at him in horror, and Paul snarled. "Leave her. Bitch made her bed and she can lie in it. That's not Cass's family, anyway. I'm Cass's family now, and if they want to come anywhere near her again, they're gonna have to come through me."

And so they left, and if Seth felt bad about it, Paul didn't in the least. Maybe he was a cruel bastard, but he was a loyal one, and his loyalty wasn't to Nastassja Fedorova.

The got to the summer house a lot faster than Cassie had. The funny part about it all was that Paul never did get to see the face of the man he had wanted to kill. The greatest evil that had touched Paul's life, the greatest human evil that was, had been wrapped up and hauled to a morgue before Paul had a chance to do anything about it. Seth had kept his cell phone on while they slipped into the house and listened in as the police talked amongst themselves, Edward translating multiple conversations verbatim when they slipped away again.

Apparently Ivan Fedorov had called himself in as the murderer, and had been waiting calmly to be taken into custody when the police had arrived. Afon Cherkov had been shot multiple times, and there was the blood and hair of two separate females in the room, although no murder weapon could be found. There was also a bloodstain on a mattress in the master guest suite matching the blood type of one of the females. Both of Ivan Fedorov's daughters were unaccounted for, and there were witnesses that said that Fedorov couldn't have possibly been at the scene of the crime, but Cassie's father had been insistent. Fedorov had killed Cherkov for assaulting both his daughters. That was all Fedorov was going to say about it, and his reputation was still of such that his confession was going to be accepted. End of story.

Too little too late, was what the old Paul would have said about that. Much too fucking little and way too fucking late. But this Paul merely closed his eyes and thanked this man, because Ivan's sacrifice would mean that Cass wouldn't be running the rest of her life from the police. Something given, even little and late, was still something. Edward had hesitated and then added in a confused voice that the police had also found a disturbingly excessive amount of bite marks on the body, tiny ones made with rodent sized teeth near Cherkov's throat. However the wounds were post-mortem and no one believed that Cherkov had been mauled to death, not when there were multiple bullet wounds to his chest. As cover-up's went, Fedorov's at least had some merit.

Seth seemed disturbed, but they had more important things to worry about. However, Paul decided that maybe when this was all over, he was having a very long talk with a very specific squirrel.

They found Cassie's car abandoned twenty miles away near a rundown metro station, and despite hacking into security cameras and station records, that's where the trail ran cold. Cass had shut down so far that the only thing that Paul knew was that she was alive. Nothing else, he couldn't even find her scent in the metro, one of the smelliest places Paul and Seth had been to in a long time. It had been as if she wasn't just running from what had happened, she was making sure Paul and Seth couldn't follow. Frantic became worried, worried became angry, angry hardened into resolved. Paul was not leaving without his imprint. He was _not_.

After two weeks of scouring the country for any signs of her, an exhausted Seth had to call up his Alpha. Neither the Beta nor the Third wanted to say it, but they finally had to admit that admit that they had lost an imprint. She was alive, but they just couldn't find her. Cass was gone.

* * *

The Alpha was angry. The Alpha was so angry that the whole Pack was keeping a low profile, trying their best to stay out of his way. Even Leah was hiding from Jake, and the entire Pack looked stressed as hell every time Jake was within a few miles of them. Considering how small the rez was, that was pretty much all the time.

Samantha let Jake be angry for two full weeks, weeks where Seth and Paul tried and failed to track down Cassie, and then another week after that as Jake relentlessly harassed Alice Cullen to just fucking _find_ her already. The more they researched and found out about Afon Cherkov, the more angry Jake got, to the point that if Cassie hadn't killed him, and Paul or Seth hadn't killed him, then Jake would've killed him for even daring to threaten his Pack. Apparently Afon's people had been poking around Forks for a while, trying to get information on Paul without attracting too much attention to themselves, and that had left Jake utterly pissed. Since the funding had dried up when Cherkov met his end, the people had disappeared, but the threat had been enough to seriously damage Jake's calm.

Bella had been as patient as she could be, but when Jake's excessive language and anger kept making her send Nessie away, she had finally told him that she would call him with anything they found and to _go away_. Once the Alpha had been exiled from the Cullen property, had gnawed several trees into splinters, and had seriously considered breaking his new set rules about who left the rez at the same time so that the Alpha himself could go track Cassie down, Samantha went and found him.

Jake was currently patrolling, something he had been doing nearly constantly since the Calgary attack to work off his frustrations, and so Samantha really only had to drive Embry's truck to one of the more off path patrol routes and sit on the hood, painting her nails with some clumpy old nail polish while she waited. Eventually the sounds of birds and wildlife quieted dramatically, saying a predator was in the area. A big predator. A probably wolf but maybe something else predator.

Samantha continued to paint her nails, although she did speak in a normal voice to the unseen creature. "If you're a leech and not a wolf, you really don't want to eat me. Just to let you know, I don't taste very good," Samantha stated dryly. "And if you're a wolf and not a leech, I still don't taste very good, so the same rules apply."

"Someone needs to pass the message on to Emb, then," Jake muttered as he walked out of the woods, still fastening his shorts as he did. "He's been gnawing on you since we got back." It was true. Having almost lost her in the caves, and then having been frightened a second time when her fever had skyrocketed for two days straight before dropping back to normal, Embry was trying to show a battered but much healthier Samantha exactly how much he needed to _not_ lose her. Soreness aside, Samantha appreciated the sentiments.

"Embry's the exception," Samantha agreed, and then she raised an eyebrow at the sour faced Alpha, who seemed a little surprised that she had heard him. "Why? Is it bothering you, me and him?"

Jake rolled his eyes as he approached the truck, looking annoyed. "Not really, not normally," he grunted. "You're still not exactly what I'd call my type, apple girl. It's just that I can't keep the imprint bond clamped down as much when I'm…" He trailed off and Samantha smirked.

"When you're throwing a three week long temper tantrum?" she supplied. Jake glowered at her, but Samantha just kept painting her nails. Jake grunted again and leaned on the truck next to her leg. She was still sore, and she still could barely sleep at night, but she was doing better. Embry was helping, just by being him, or as close to him as he got these days. And even pissed off, Jake was helping her just by being around peripherally, and the reality was that it would probably go the other way too. So Samantha took his hand, flopped it down on her knee to brace it, and began painting his thumb an ugly burnt orange color.

Jake watched her for a moment, surprised, because she had never willingly touched him, not of her own accord. "The other Alphas are going to pick on me," he told her eventually, his voice still grumpy even though he didn't pull his hand away.

"The other Alphas _already_ pick on you, Jacob Black," Samantha replied. "Hold still, I'll do a bad job if you move."

"You do a bad job _every_ time, Samantha Carter," he countered, and she smiled a little at that because it was true. Her nails, the ones she had left, were pretty badly painted most days. But she still worked on his thumb, trying her best to stay in the lines, not that she succeeded. After a few minute of having his hand resting on her bare knee, these were her most torn jeans, and her hand resting on his, the skin to skin contact with his imprint began to calm Jake and the scowl on his face shifted into a softer form of frustration.

"You kind of have a bad attitude when you're pissed off," Samantha murmured, moving on to his pointer finger. "The whole Pack is collectively ducking and covering right now."

"Except for you," he pointed out dryly.

"I tend to make brave choices in serious situations," she chuckled, spelling out Leah's name on the rest of Jake's nails with the utmost care. Jake had it on a good authority that Claire would have done much better.

"Is brave the word they're using these days for you?" Jake smirked, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Okay, so I make bad choices, some would say, but they're still brave ones." She raised her eyes to Jake's, then looked down again. She still wasn't good at looking at him for too long. It made the world much more confusing. "So bad-choice-making, brave-yet-reluctant imprint that I am, I was elected to come tell you to chill out. I get volunteered for this kind of shit a lot, apparently the Pack is under the assumption no one will eat me, although I beg to differ on at least Paul. The point being, you need to know that if we need to all go get Cassie, then we will. If half of us need to go, then we'll go. If you and I need to go alone, then I get to drive, but let's go. But they're just as worried about her as you are, and making them miserable isn't helping."

"You and I, huh?" Jake smirked. "Another road trip? That sounds painful."

"No kidding," she agreed. "I'm pretty much over road trips for life. But I guess what I'm saying is that we'll all do what we have to do, even me. Give the word, and if it's not stupid, then we'll do it."

"And if it is stupid?" he was smiling at her a little, and Samantha smiled back, a quirky grin, but it still made her look pretty.

"Don't worry," she promised. "I'll tell you."

Jake rolled his eyes and then squeezed her kneecap, right in the perfect place to make it tickle and make her jump with a little yelp. "Good to know."

"Imprinting is awesome," Samantha replied sarcastically, but her lips were still curved. "Didn't you get the memo?" She was quiet for a while, working on the rest of Leah's name, and then she recapped the bottle. Very softly she told him something, something she had never told anyone. "You know, I keep all my stuff in a duffle bag, Jacob Black. That duffle that was in the Shaggin' Waggin' when it was towed back home? That's the sum of all the things I own, and I keep it all where I can grab it and run if I have to."

He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "You got something you need to run from, Samantha Carter?"

"Not anymore, Jacob Black, your Pack already caught me. I did give fighting them off a good effort though, didn't I?" she chuckled, before growing serious again. "But the reality was that I always liked having the option of bailing. I didn't have a lot of ties, and there was something freeing about that. The ties that I did have, I could have cut them quick and been gone. Never looked back. I know that sounds harsh and cold, but that was me."

"That's not Pack," Jake murmured. "It doesn't work that way with us. We can't lose one without it hurting us all."

Samantha nodded. "Yeah, I'm starting to get that the whole cutting yourself off from the Pack thing doesn't really work. Embry's been helping me get it. He's been showing me that I don't have to be ready to bolt at all times, that ties to other people are okay to have. The thing is, when I was around Cassie…I don't know her very well, but I just got the feeling that her ties meant a lot to her. And only in a couple days, I watched her tie herself to everything and everyone around her. She just doesn't seem like the type to cut and run because it's easier that way, the way I would have. She doesn't seem like the type to cut her ties at all, not unless it was what she _had_ to do for herself."

"She disappeared off the radar completely, Samantha," Jake growled. "That's exactly what she did."

His imprint shrugged. "Listen, I don't know precisely what's going on over there, but if Cassie's running, then maybe that's what she needs to do right now. You can freak out about it all you want, but she's an adult, and when she's ready, she'll come back. Smothering someone and making them feel incompetent isn't the way to help someone. Maybe you guys chasing her isn't helping either. The next time I get kidnapped by an evil Alpha, yeah definitely, rescue me. But some shit…some shit's just your own, you know? Some shit you just have to deal with alone, and as a group, you guys don't seem to understand that well."

"And what if we back off, what then? What if she doesn't come back?" Jake said unhappily, and Samantha raised an eyebrow at him.

"Then what did you lose?" Samantha said quietly. "Paul loses a girl that wasn't who he thought she was. The Pack loses an imprint, but a disloyal one. If I had run that day you imprinted, if I had run after the party the way I was so tempted to, I would have been disloyal too. To you, to Embry, to everyone, it would have been betrayal to abandon the Pack. It doesn't mean that there won't ever be reasons good enough to do it, but it's still wrong. I knew it was wrong even when I wanted nothing to do with any of this. To be honest, I kind of still don't."

"You haven't had the easiest path into the Pack, Samantha, we all understand that," Jake told her gently, and she quirked a grin.

"True that," she agreed. The grin slipped as she raised her eyes to his and kept them there. "You know," Samantha said softly, "The Calgary Alpha…he gave me the option of leaving. Down in that cave, he gave me the option of leaving Brady, of saving myself. And I was hurt and I was scared, but Brady was too. If I had walked away, if I had abandoned him for good, what would have been my worth then? And I might not know Cassie very well, but I can tell you this now, there's not a single one of us that she would have left in that cave to save herself. She's not the abandoning type."

Jake said nothing to that, and Samantha sighed. "Hell, what do I know? That girl and I have nothing in common. But I do know that Cassie loves you guys, you'd be crazy not to believe that, and as long as she knows you guys still love her too, I think she'll come back. You could force the issue or just give her some time, but you're the Alpha. We'll do what you say."

"Unless what I say is stupid," he reminded her drolly, and Samantha grinned.

"Yep," she said cheerfully as she unfolded her legs and slid off the truck hood. "That's the idea, you learn quickly, Jacob Black. Hey listen, sorry to make you all girly and run, but I've got a hot date doing community service later and I want to hang out with Leah first. She at least, I have things in common with."

"That's frightening," Jake murmured, looking at his hand, and Samantha chuckled.

"Right? Well, I have labeled you Leah's, told you to chill out, and I didn't get eaten for it. I suppose my work here is accomplished," she said as she walked over to the driver's side, Jake's massive form following behind her.

"Leah's huh?" Jake chuckled as he opened the door for her. Her broken arm, which wasn't nearly as broken as it should have been, made it awkward climbing in, so he watched her in case she needed help. She didn't. "You're a little behind in the Alpha love life department, Samantha Carter. Leah turned my ass down. I take it you didn't get that memo?"

Samantha winked at Jake and started the engine. "There's more than one memo, Jake," she chuckled knowingly, and then before her dramatic getaway, the engine died. Jake began laughing at her as Samantha rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Sonofa_bitch_," she muttered. "That's the third time this week."

"Pop the hood," Jake chuckled. "It's probably the-"

"The fuse box, yeah, I know," Samantha sighed, popping the hood and climbing back out. "And I can fix it, but thanks anyway. Go, be a moody Alpha or something."

Jake grinned and propped up the hood, ducking his head underneath the large sheet of metal. "Sure sure, imprint can hold her own, I got it."

"This is _my_ truck, Jacob Black," she growled. "Paws off."

"This is _Emb's_ truck," he corrected her, flashing her white teeth when she growled possessively as he checked the fuses. "And I helped him rebuild it from the ground up, so I would have to say it's _my_ truck more than yours."

"It loves me more," she informed him as he continued checking fuses, and Jake snickered when after a moment she added, "Seriously, let me do this, I always have it going again by now."

"It's not the fuses," he told her and as Samantha peered under the hood curiously, Jake stuck his hands in his pockets and stepped away.

"No? That sucks. What is it then?" she asked, and then noticed Jake's brilliant grin as he began walking backwards. "What the hell, Jake?"

"It's your truck, remember Samantha?" he called back, giving her a happy little wave. "It loves you more. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Samantha gave him an annoyed look and yelled over. "Can I at least use your phone to call Embry? He'll get worried about me, and Cassie's freaky ass squirrel ate my cell phone."

"Co-dependency's never healthy, Samantha Carter," Jake flashed her one more grin. "It'll be good for you and Emb, both. But hey, if you can't fix it by the time it gets dark, I'll have someone come back and give you a ride. That is if you ask nicely."

Samantha's middle finger was as nice as she got. Chuckling to himself, Jake trotted back into the woods and phased. In the best mood he'd been in all week, he finished his patrol, telling a curious Collin and an amused Quil to leave the stranded imprint be for now. After all, smothering someone and making them feel incompetent wasn't helpful. He had just been joking, but when Jake wandered back to the same place an hour later, ready to fix his brother's truck and rescue the girl, the girl was gone.

She had fixed the truck all on her own. Well damn.

* * *

Paul had to give Cassie credit, his imprint was good at disappearing when she wanted to.

It could only be expected, this wasn't the first time Cassie had run. But then again, Paul was a wolf, and if need be he would hunt his mate forever until he found her. It didn't take forever, but it did take about a month and a half for him to finally track her down for the first time. It would have taken twice as long without Seth, and eventually Alice helping, because for a long time Cassie really didn't want to be found. Paul had opened the imprint bond up as wide as it could go, but even with Jake's help in learning how to manipulate it with more finesse, it was nearly impossible to even feel her, not with how hard she was clamping down on her emotions. It was almost as if she were deadened inside, and that emptiness was much harder to lock onto than emotions ever were.

So Paul followed his nose and his instincts, and as often as she allowed it, his imprint bond across Europe. Cass never used his debit card, although he made sure that there was always money on it in case she did, and he had Alice keeping an eye on her and for the increasingly often flashes of Cassie's locations, more visible the longer she stayed away from the wolves. And after the first few weeks of panic had calmed down, mostly under Seth's rock hard control, the Third simply allowed himself to hunt quietly, calmly, and deliberately.

She knew he was closing in. The imprint bond was softening, after all, and Cass might be emotionless, but Paul wasn't. She might not be giving much to him through the bond with the state she was in right now, but what was coming through from his side was love, such fierce love that it made even breathing harder without her at his side. Paul loved her, needed her, was following her, and when she was ready, he would catch her.

The problem was, Cass wasn't ready yet. Seth didn't quite understand, Paul wasn't sure he did either, but several times he had been in the same city as Cassie, had been drawn within miles of her, only to deliberately let her slip away again. It happened more and more often, and as the imprint bond continued to shift back into that deeply shared tie between them, Paul could feel more of Cassie's emotions. Shame. Fear. Shame. Loneliness. Shame. Hurt. _Shame_. She couldn't face him. Hell, she couldn't face herself, and so Paul chose not to force it. She knew by now that he was there, because often she was so close he could almost taste her. There was no way she couldn't know, and yet she still ran, slower and slower, her steps few and further in between.

Nearly two and a half months into the chase, Cassie stopped running.

For a while, Paul hadn't been sure how she had been getting money, although his nose had taken him to enough night clubs and bars that he was pretty sure she was waiting tables and serving drinks for cash under the table. Some of the bars were pretty bad, but after he and Seth had sent a few knees knocking, they learned that Cassie wasn't letting anyone come near her, not even for a handshake hello. When she finally stopped running, Paul had worried that it was because she was out of cash, and he couldn't stand to know that she might be hungry. It was bad enough that she was staying in homeless shelters and women's homes, cold and sad and little and alone. So he had been 'mailing' her things the last couple weeks, a sweatshirt to keep her warmer at night, money in case she had lost his debit card, a ticket to "The Unlikely Heiress", which the European market seemed to enjoy much more than the American one had and was still playing it. Although by the lack of postage it was obvious that he was in town and just dropping the packages off when she was gone.

Maybe it was the book that got to her.

Paul had bought a children's picture book of fairy tales, written in German because that's how far her fleeing had taken them. After consulting a German-English dictionary, he had torn out every single page except for the last one, the one that read "and they lived happily ever after". Next to that he had posted a picture of them he'd pulled out of Seth's phone. It was a picture of Paul on his porch, Cassie and her pillow curled up on his lap, her head against his chest as she lay fast asleep. Paul had been resting his chin on the top of her head, looking as lazy as his wolf, his eyes half closed and his arms holding her close. It was only a moment, only one of a thousand, but she needed to remember that she had a place she belonged, and she didn't have to run. Not from him, not ever.

Seth had told him that he was being stupid, to go get his girl and be done with it, that Seth had to be back in school for his second attempt at a senior year in a couple weeks. Paul was better, but he was still volatile, and it was a bad idea leaving him to rampage across Europe at will. Paul felt that was a little harsh, but then again, Paul accidentally made a waitress cry just order a soda yesterday, so maybe Seth had a valid point.

It was time that they go home, Seth felt, but Paul understood now more than ever how careful he needed to be here. Cassie loved _everything_, and she had killed someone. It was the exact thing she had wanted so badly to spare him, and despite her having acted in self-defense, Paul intuitively understood that this had devastated her. She needed time, and after several long talks with Jake about the matter, Paul had decided that he wasn't going to force Cassie into a corner, even if he was on her heels. But when she stopped near Hamburg, she stayed stopped, even when Paul allowed himself to be so close that he could literally smell her on the wind.

He had 'mailed' her more money, and yet she stayed where she was. But still Paul waited, this time from a different kind of worry. It occurred to him that maybe she didn't want him, didn't need him as desperately as he needed her. After all, having the love of your life run from you for months, instead of running _to_ you, could damage a man's pride just a touch. But as he sat in the food court of a local mall with Seth, his elbows on his knees and his heart in his feet as the Beta inhaled take-out, he finally felt what he'd been waiting for.

Cass needed him. The bond was open again, and she _needed_ him.

She was done running, and she was a mess still, but she wanted him to find her. She wanted him to find her so badly that it was second nature to rise to his feet wordlessly and jog off through the mall, ignoring Seth's relieved look and his mutter of "it's about time". Across the street, four blocks down, a turn to the right and another to the left. Paul had known she was here, of course he had, but he still hated walking into that tiny shelter, the one with the dirty floors and the peeling paint. There was a room down the hall, fifth on the left, and below the smells of unwashed strangers, there laid the best smell in the entire world.

A couple months ago, Paul had stood in a different hall, had inhaled the same scent, and had gathered his courage to knock on the door. Only this time he didn't knock because he already knew his imprint wasn't inside.

The door was technically locked, but Paul only needed to give the handle a little jiggle and the lock gave away. He slipped through the doorway, looking around curiously. A couple months ago, he had looked around a hotel room, so decadent it had made his head spin, but it had occurred to him at the time that there was nothing in the entire suite that told him anything about his imprint. It had been huge and beautiful, but cold, impersonal, a cover. This room was small and dirty, but the single bed in the corner had been made neatly, the threadbare pillow fluffed and smoothed. There was a small stand next to the bed, the only other furniture in the room, and arranged carefully around the lamp on the stand was his imprint.

There was a movie ticket stub, a little worn from being in her pocket. There was a miniature Rubix cube, the red side solved and the others a mess, because she never had been able to move beyond the Paul side anyway. There was a sticky note with a smiley that Seth had left in one of Paul's packages, and next to her pillow there was Paul's picture of them together, taped to the sweatshirt that he worn for a week just so that it would smell like him when he left it for her. There was a stack of money hidden inside the book next to the sweatshirt, and Paul sighed when he saw that she hadn't spent a single dime.

Oh, and eyeing him suspiciously from the nearly empty closet was a squirrel with a nut stuffed in one cheek, his whiskers twitching.

"I'm not gonna ask," Paul told Pyatno, shaking his head. "But in case you're wondering, we're out of here." The squirrel squeaked once, a dark threatening sound, and retreated back to the shadows of the closet, its beady little eyes watching him without blinking.

The ticket and the cube, the sticky and the picture, the money and the sweatshirt all got stuffed in his back pockets. The book didn't matter. Paul was going to give his imprint a better ending then she could ever dream of, but first it was time to go get her and take her home. The squirrel…well, the squirrel seemed to do just fine on its own. If it followed Cass home, then he'd have to build it a squirrel house or some shit to make her happy. If it didn't involve chasing her all over fucking Europe anymore, he'd do anything she wanted.

This shit, though, he wasn't doing anymore.

Paul left the shelter, walking around the building slowly. She was close, in that park across the street, directly behind her room. She had probably watched the people playing and had wanted to be with them, because she was Cass, and Cass may be hiding but she hated being alone. Damn girl, didn't she get it? Paul was hers. She never _had_ to be alone, he was _never_ going to leave her. She was always going to have him, through the best and through the worst. Imprinting was…no, screw imprinting. He just loved her. Paul wanted his girl back, because he just loved her and that was all that mattered.

And then there she was.

It was a nice and warm outside, but somehow the machines under the manmade ice skating rink kept it cold. The day had grown later, so most of the park goers had cleared out, leaving Cass alone in the center of the ice. She was in a used pair of tennis shoes, and she was scooting around, trying to spin. She wasn't very good at it, but there was a little smile on her face, and every time she almost fell, she smiled bigger. Her hair was longer, touching her shoulders and falling messily over a face worn from the last few months, the last few years really, but Paul had never seen anyone so fucking beautiful in his whole life. There was ice on her rear end, one much too slender…

Dammit, Cass _never_ ate enough when he wasn't constantly bugging her about it. That was it, enough of this shit, he was taking her home. _Now_.

Paul had spent nearly three months chasing this girl, and he should have been more patient now, now when he was right in front of her, but Paul had had enough. Almost three months chasing her was nothing compared to twenty-one years of waiting for her, and he wasn't going to be patient, not today, not anymore. Paul hopped the wall around the rink and with a determined scowl on his face, he strode out onto the ice. Cassie finished her little turn, and as if his presence had pulled at her the way hers pulled at him, her head came up. When Cassie realized that he was coming for her, a mixture of emotions slide over her face. She opened her mouth to say something, probably something that would take him another three months to figure out the meaning of, but she didn't have a chance. Three strides in, Paul's feet slid completely out from under him, and all the wolf-like ability in the world couldn't keep him from ending up on his ass in front of his imprint, looking like a total fool.

_Damn_.

"Paul?" Cassie asked in concern, shuffling her way over to him as quickly as she could. "Paul, are you okay?"

"Actually Cass, I'm not okay," Paul snarled, climbing to his feet and needing to be over _there_, not over here. "Actually I'm really fucking not okay—dammit!"

He hit the ice again, this time hard enough to make him grunt and let out a curse. Then he heard it, Cassie was giggling. Oh, she was trying not to, trying valiantly with her hands clasped over her mouth and her bottom lip between her teeth, but she was giggling. Her laughter was like music in his ears, music in his soul, and it occurred to Paul that it might just be the first time in months that she had done this. Sighing, he gave standing up one last effort, and when he landed on his ass a third time, he stayed down. Apparently the Third really did like things in threes.

"This is _so_ not how this shit was supposed to go," Paul grumbled to the world, and something in _his_ world was finally right when he heard her soft breathy laugh, the one that had him from the very beginning.

"_Lan_-guage, Paul." The little blonde imprint was grinning at him, shuffling forward a little closer. It wasn't close enough.

"Momma…_come_…_here_…" he growled, but there was a pleading in that order, a request that was the closest to a beg that Paul had ever used with a girl. Come here and stay here. Come here and be with me. Come here and never leave me alone and worried about you again. And Cassie came, because she loved this one, and he was asking as nicely as a Paul could ask. And perhaps it was a particularly slippery piece of ice, or maybe Cassie didn't want Paul to be embarrassed anymore and did it on purpose, but she slipped too.

Paul caught her.

Paul caught her and she was in his arms again, and he'd have to yell at her for leaving him later, because he was too busy kissing her like a man starved. And then because he was Paul, and he was no good at this shit anyways, he stood up and took her hand, and he took her away. Of course he slipped on the ice several more times before making it to the wall, but Cassie's little arms were secure around his waist, and he let her hold him up every time he slipped. That was how it was supposed to work, them both catching each other when they fell, his imprint had taught him that. And so what if once he was off the ice, Paul slung Cass over his shoulder and carried her back to Seth, back to their Pack, back to their home like a damn Neanderthal?

Well, that was how it was supposed to work too.


	22. Chapter 20

A/N This chapter is very short, partly because of the last chapter's material being already covered, and partly because of the fact that life doesn't always end up with all the loose ends nicely tied. We'll see more of Paul and Cassie in the next fic, so don't worry, their story isn't over, just this part of it. :) I wrote most of this to Never Say Never by _The Fray_, it fits the ending scene well. The epilogue will also be up today. Thanks as always to my reviewers, _cylobaby, LadyMonday, 82c10akaLynn, LightIsPrecious, saraneedsahobby, pinkshirt, MadToTheBone1, toalli, Manna1, moani-sama, KerryH, CuppycakesRule, EnglishVoice, sisicloud, hilja, Buffyk0604, EaSofie, esoteric desideratum, SARAH DB, Ashes-Of-Grey, laurazuleta18, garlauri, AllthePieces, 99wolves99, lilred-07, Miss Bear, TeffieS, StealthLiberal, mcc3654, HopefulHeartache, Roonani, dirtychicken, LucyPenny, chickadee74, Jacobleah, lionandthelamblove7, Lady Aeries, ally leigh, _and_ InsanelyxLOUD_. Also big props to _LightIsPrecious_ and the ladies on my lj for helping me through the worst writer's block I've had this series so far. *glomps*

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Chapter Twenty

The rain sheeted down across his skin, soaking the young Alpha from head to toe. As he stood at the border to their ancestral lands, Jacob Black found that appropriate. After all, there was a wolf out there, one that wanted passage into their lands, and it was a wolf that Jake was unable to deny.

The wolf was old, perhaps not as old as Jack and Tupkuk, but its tired eyes would tell of seasons passed, better times lived in better ways. But this wolf was near its passing, its heart was broken, its spirit was crushed, and even one as young as Jake could recognize the signs. The wolves were long lived, but instinctively the young Alpha had begun to understand that they weren't immortal. The vampires were caught in a single moment, forever their age, forever their beauty, forever dead. The wolves however were constantly changing, growing stronger but growing weaker too. Time ground down on the strongest of bodies, but more than that, sadness ground down on the strongest of souls. The wolf was coming, had been released from its Pack in Calgary and allowed this final pilgrimage to its former home.

Jake hadn't understood at first what the other Alpha had wanted. The Calgary Alpha's mind brushing his from so far away had been vague until Jake realized how to allow Tupkuk to join in his thoughts. The wolf's name Tupkuk hadn't shared, only the impression of one that had been much like Jake's Paul, strong, solid, faithful. However the previous Calgary Alpha had damaged more than just Jake's Packmates, and many of Tupkuk's wolves were either far too hardened or crushed until nearly nothing was left. Most would be okay, eventually, but some were struggling. Some had quit trying all together.

The new Calgary Alpha had expressed worry that this wolf would not make the journey alone, and would send two of his own with them, if Jake would agree. Jake wasn't sure he had a choice. The voices that hummed softly in the back of his mind were already murmuring songs of passing, and there was nothing else to do but agree. After all, who was he to deny one of his own their final moment of peace?

There was a familiar scent on the wind, brothers were close, and the Alpha closed his eyes. It was almost too easy, too seductive to tug at these wolves, to draw them to him, to want them in his Pack. There was strength in numbers, and there was power there too. But Jake understood the difference between strength and power. Strength was necessary for them all, but power…power could be dangerous. Jake could be powerful one day, could be powerful now if he allowed it, but he wasn't ready. Something slid beneath his skin, something far stronger, far vaster than his brothers had ever experienced, and until he was sure that it was something he wanted, something he could control, the young Alpha kept this part of him tightly clamped down. He wasn't ready, not yet, and Jake was still secretly frightened of the potential that he knew he possessed.

Funny, the only other one with the sense to seem frightened of his potential as well was his imprint.

There was a whine in the darkness, soft and pleading. Jake took a step forward, his bare toes digging into muddy earth as he inhaled and exhaled calmly. It was an unthreatening noise accompanying a territorial gesture, and as the three figures slipped closer, the two flanking the third protectively dropped back. They were Tupkuk's wolfborn, their bright blue eyes disconcerting as they stopped and rested on the ground, unconcerned at being alone in the presence of an Alpha. Jake wondered at that, because they were strong but he was stronger. Were they not worried that he would try and take them? Was their Alpha not worried about the same?

Wihl found that mildly amusing. After all, wolfborn had always chosen their own Alphas, even from the beginning. Jake had nothing to offer them. Hla'o reminded Wihl that the La Push Alpha had the she-wolf he had hunted for, and she was much more interesting than Tupkuk's she-wolf. That one merely slept all day, and was only good if one wanted their ears chewed. Hla'o preferred to do his own chewing.

Jake blinked in surprise, more thrown by learning that Tupkuk had a female than that the wolfborn could communicate more easily than even Seth could like this. Hla'o found it funny that an Alpha had yet to learn how to talk properly, and Wihl was wondering if they should kill the ancient wolf that was stalking them from behind. It might please their Alpha. Jake wasn't interested in breaking Jack's teeth on a pair that were barely more than pups themselves, and they should leave. Dismissing them completely, Jake focused in on the wolf in front of him. The wolf was a deep caramel color, and long ago, before this wolf's coat had lost its healthy shine, he must have been beautiful. He was less than beautiful now, lying in the mud, flattened completely before the Alpha in front of him, his eyes nearly closed. He didn't believe he would be allowed passage, and was too heartsick to know what to do if that happened. Jake knelt next to the old wolf, who flinched once but submitted to the hand that rested down on his head.

"Can you phase back, brother?" the young Alpha asked gently in Quileute, and the wolf whined. Hla'o was bored and was hungry, but Wihl was saddened. This one was unable to shift between forms anymore, even with the help of their Alpha. It was unfortunate to be stuck in one form when one was created to be two. Hla'o was content, knowing he and Wihl were one created to be two, which was much more interesting than just being one. Wihl was pretty sure that if Wihl was the thought, then Hla'o was the afterthought. Their thoughts annoyed Jake.

"If you cannot recognize the solemnity of this moment, then I will have my Pack run both of you off," Jake growled. "Tell your Alpha to send Wihl alone, or to send neither of you. _Leave now_." He put some weight behind the last sentence and the wolfborn blinked bright blue eyes, before one's tongue lolled out in a wolfish grin. Jake growled at them, a deep threatening noise, and when it was echoed in the trees by two more of his Pack, Jack and Seth, the wolfborn slipped off into the night.

The old wolf whined again, softer, and Jake realized despite his being near the end, this wolf was afraid.

"Hush," Jake whispered, soothing a hand over rough fur. "You're with friends, and you won't be harmed. Stay at my side, and you will be allowed entrance into our lands. Welcome home, brother."

The old wolf licked at Jake's hand gratefully and then slowly rose to his feet, glancing uncertainly at the Alpha before taking that first step. As his paw touched Quileute soil, a deep shudder went through the wolf, and it was only Jake's hand buried into that thick ruff and tugging gently that gave the wolf the courage to take that next final step.

Realizing that this wolf was a lone wolf, that in being released from Tupkuk's Pack, the other Alpha truly had let him go, Jake phased and brought the wolf into their Pack. The wolf's mind was a hard place to be in, hard for the rest of his Pack, so Jake blocked them out so that only the Alpha was one in thought with his new wolf. The Alpha wanted to know where the wolf wished to go, now that he was home. The wolf wished to go to the ocean, he had once spent his nights sleeping there, listening to the sounds of the waves as they crashed upon the sandy shores. He had watched the stars and counted his dreams upon them. The Alpha would go to the ocean, it was a good place to go. They would go together.

Slipping through the forest, the Alpha and the old wolf padded side by side, and in every step Jake learned more of what he had never known. He learned of his people and of his Pack and of himself. And when the old wolf's steps faltered, he supported the wolf's weight against his own, helping his new brother to the place the wolf wished to be one last time. They passed silently through the reservation, past a softly gurgling stream, and a doe nibbling on the late summer grass, and tall strong trees that both wolves remembered running between. They passed a town of sleeping people, a she-wolf fresh off patrol sharing popcorn with her mother, a man and girl up far too early to be that happy as they jogged along the forest trails together. They passed a snoring wheelchair bound man who still reached for his wife on her side of the bed, and a scarred woman staring in a mirror when no one was looking, and a young man strumming softly on a guitar as he sat in his neighbor's tree. They passed by a small cabin, where a good man held a sad girl tightly in his arms and promised her that it would take time, but everything would one day be okay. That he loved her and she loved him, and that as long as they kept it that way, everything would be okay. He _promised_.

The rain was sheeting across the land, but as their paws sank into damp sand, the old wolf didn't seem to notice. He was swaying on his feet and his new Alpha suggested gently that the wolf lay down and rest, that he enjoy the sounds of the ocean that he had loved so much. Letting out a soft grunting sigh, the wolf did as he was told, curling up happily, his Alpha's warm body wrapped around his own and the larger wolf's head resting on his old hip. The wolf wondered what would happen now, now that he was finally home, and the young Alpha snuffed gently. Rest, brother, the Alpha wouldn't leave. And when he was done resting, they would run together, as Pack always had from the very beginning.

And so he did. And when he was rested, strength filling his limbs once more, the wolf rose and stretched and leapt away to join his Pack as they ran through the trees, each touch of their paws to the beloved earth echoing as a drum beat in the Alpha's head.

Jake raised his face to the rain, the dead wolf in his arms, and he nodded. He understood exactly what it was that the ancestors wanted him to do.

* * *

Cassie had had a lot of things to answer for. Good thing that Paul was good at listening.

Not that he had liked what he had heard, and not that there hadn't been times where he had raged at her, unable to accept that she had allowed herself to walk into a situation where she had known, dammit she'd _known_ she would get hurt. But Paul loved her, was loyal to her. To Paul, Cassie was the most important thing that mattered.

Therein lay the problem, because Cassie had held and still held different priorities.

For Cassie, her family had come first, her love for them had come first, as had her love for Paul. She had known from that very moment she had looked into Afon Cherkov's eyes that her family had been doomed to fail, that _she_ had been doomed to fail, but still she had tried. She had tried so hard to save her family, and she wouldn't ever regret that. Cassie had known that if she didn't face Afon, if she stayed with Paul and pretended nothing was wrong, that one day Afon would have found her in La Push, and good honest people would have gotten hurt. Her willingness to walk headfirst into danger as a way of trying to distract Afon from Paul and La Push, to help Koldan try to find a way to bring Afon down, that had been worth the risk to herself, in Cassie's mind. That had always been worth it to her. Had Cassie failed in her attempts to protect the ones that she loved? Most definitely. But she had known she would fail, and she had still fought for her loved ones anyway.

Paul didn't see it that way. Paul only saw the aftermath of her failed attempt at protecting herself and her family, and he could not and would not accept that he couldn't have fought that battle for her. She had used guile when force would have worked better, that a fist around Cherkov's throat would have saved them all a whole lot of problems, and that the Pack could have protected both her and Ani. He refused to believe that Afon was as dangerous as Cassie said, that even a rich evil human could have hurt the reservation the way Cassie tried to explain. Paul thought that his imprint had simply been wrong. She hadn't had faith in them, and that wounded him deeply. That she had willingly bedded Cherkov had wounded him more. More than once Paul had to walk out of the cabin, more than once he had to fight so damn _hard_ to just calm down before he phased and hurt the one person he couldn't stand to hurt, to see hurt. But calm could still be angry, and his anger hit full throttle when she refused to accept that he was right this time.

The fight was bad.

Paul told Cassie that she was full of bullshit, that he didn't even know who she was, that maybe he had _never_ known. Cassie told Paul that she didn't need him, that three months alone had taught her that she didn't need _anyone_, and she refused to fall weak and helpless into his arms to sooth his sense of pride. He told her that her stupidity and selfishness could have ruined the whole Pack, and how the hell were they supposed to protect themselves and her if they didn't ever have the whole fucking story? She told him that he would have sacrificed her family for her…damn _right_ he would have, he had interjected explosively. She had screamed at him that he would have sacrificed her family for her, and she wouldn't have _ever_ traded someone she loved, or let Paul become a killer just for some ridiculous magical bond between them. Her father—

Her father was fucking _dead_, Cassie, and that shit was on _her_ when it should have been on _him_.

That was true, but it was going too far, and even as the words had slipped out of his mouth, Paul had known that. Cassie _had_ tried to turn herself in. Initially she had panicked, had waited for the moment Koldan arrived and had Ani in his arms, and then she had fled. She had been so devastated at what she had done…she had killed someone, and it had shattered something inside her. Roman had taught her well how to run if she needed to, so she had run, and run, and run. Only the blood had stayed on her hands, and after a few days that she wouldn't ever be able to recall clearly, Cassie had realized that as a murderer, she needed to tell the police what she had done.

She had been too late by only a few hours. Ivan Fedorov had taken the blame for his daughter's mistake, and had taken that to his grave. Tied unequivocally to Afon Cherkov's crimes, and the leaking of information the death of Cherkov brought with it, Ivan Fedorov had been killed in prison within two days of his confession. The case was closed, the detective had quietly told her to keep her confession and move on. Afon Cherkov had been a bad man and now a bad man was dead. In some eyes, Fedorov was once more the political hero he had once been. But it had been that blood, the blood of her father on her hands that had broken her completely and had sent her fleeing. Ivan Fedorov had been more to her than a political hero. He had been her daddy and he was dead because of her.

It had taken her months to even start to come to terms with the pain of that action, and throwing that back in her face had been the worst thing he could have done. And maybe she loved Paul, and maybe she had no place to go anymore, but Cassie was done being hurt by men who knew better. So little Cassie pulled her rubber band off her finger and set it down on the counter, and even though she was sobbing, she walked away from her Paul.

She didn't even make it to the door.

Maybe he stopped her, or maybe she stopped herself, but he loved her and she loved him too, and they were both so damn _hurt_ by each other. Not only that but they were both left reeling from the other's hurt through the imprint bond, and it was making them crazy. Not knowing what else to do, Paul had snatched her up and showed her with his mouth and his hands and every single inch of him that he wasn't ready to be done with this yet. Cassie hadn't been either. She had clung to him, loved him back just as hard as he had loved her, even if it was too fast for her, too much for her. Paul tried to slow down, but she was driving him on, and the imprint bond between them was nearly thrumming with pain. Both of them desperate to fix this between them, both of them doing it the wrong way.

Finally it was the wolf that ended the fight, slamming Paul so hard that he could barely move, and when asked, Paul grudgingly allowed the wolf access to their mate. That is, if Cassie was okay with it. She was, although she was humiliated that Paul's wolf would see her like this, an emotional wreck. What the wolf had done had surprised them both. Instead of being even more aggressive than Paul, the wolf had soothed her with quiet murmurs of affection and had finished their lovemaking the way Cassie had needed it, had wanted it. Paul was there too, but it was the wolf that satisfied their mate, and when it was done, it was the wolf that had braced itself over her. His eyes bright blue and hungry, the wolf had told her that they weren't interested in games anymore. They wanted didn't just want a mate, they wanted to be Mated, and if she did too, this would be better. The wolf wasn't sure his human would ever really figure this out in time, and the wolf didn't want to hurt or have her hurt anymore. Mated and this would never happen again. But she had to agree.

And in the middle of the night, nose to nose with a blue eyed wolf, Cassie did something an imprint hadn't done in hundreds of years. She allowed herself to be Mated to Paul.

It hadn't hurt, there was no biting, no actual sex involved. But that place in her belly, in her soul that had always been Paul's place, had grown and spread, tying her so tightly to him and him to her that Cassie wasn't even sure she could fight with him, not anymore. She could feel his pain too acutely, and as blue eyes darkened into caramel, Paul pressed his face to her breast and trembled. What Cassie felt, she felt _hard_, her happiness, her sadness, her love, her _shame_. On both sides, a thousand emotions carefully controlled and tucked away over the last years, concealed behind walls built so strongly that they should have been impenetrable. And yet they shattered, leaving each other completely open, completely raw, and completely exposed to each other.

The fight was over, because he couldn't yell at her. It hurt her too much and he couldn't do that anymore. She slipped her rubber band back on because she had never wanted to take it off anyways, and somehow, for this strong stoic man, watching her take it off had hurt him nearly as much as killing Afon Cherkov had hurt her. She was still devastated over her family, he was still angry she hadn't come to him for help, but in the end they still loved each other. That was it. That was all. That was all they needed to know. So it was done.

Paul would never explain what happened that night in detail to his Pack, and his wolf always conveniently glossed over it when he was phased. Cassie would never tell the other imprints that when Paul was close and Paul's wolf would grow too bored, he would brush the corners of Cassie's mind and tell her all the things he loved about her. But as a Paul lay in his bed, his Mate cradled closely in his arms, he knew she wasn't okay, not yet, and neither was he. He also knew that one day she would be, and so would he, and so he promised that to her. And in that little one room cabin, Paul and Cass finally figured it out, what this whole imprinting thing had always been about from the very beginning.

The wolf yawned, wondering what exactly had been so difficult about the concept in the first place.

* * *

As the Alpha and the old wolf slipped away towards the shore, Jake obviously wanting to be left to do this himself, Seth started to head home. A soft whine made him pause.

Seth turned around and looked at the brindle colored wolf that had sunk to the ground, his scarred muzzle resting on his right paw. The Beta was tired, the time spent away from his Pack had been exhausting, and he wanted nothing more than to find his warm soft bed and his cozy Spiderman sheets and cuddle up next to an imaginary yet scantily clad Chancy in his bed. Why Chancy? Well, why not? He already told her about his Spiderman sheets over one of their many transatlantic phone calls this summer, so she wouldn't judge. And he liked her crazy hair. It was different and unique and Seth liked different and unique.

Jack was kind of different and unique. Mostly because he was the oldest wolf alive.

Jake had pulled the information out of Jack a few weeks ago, when Jack was thinking about Tupkuk, his mind more open and focused than normal. The animosity between those two was deeply rooted, and the few moments where Seth had been allowed to sneak a peek at it had left him shocked. Jack was mild and quiet and worried far too much for his own good, but buried beneath that was a very strong wolf, one who was deeply angry at the newest Calgary Alpha. Seth had never hated someone the way Jack hated Tupkuk.

Jack figured that was probably a good thing. The Beta wanted to be human again, it was hard enough to know what was happening on the shore without seeing it through Jake's eyes, so Seth ordered the patrolling wolves to phase human and patrol that way. Oh, and Collin? Paul and Cassie would be fine, so Seth wanted Collin to stop stalking Paul's place and to do his job. A flush of embarrassment from the young wolf, and then Collin was gone from Seth's mind. Craning his neck to the side as the rest of his Packmate's did as they were told, the Beta let his body snap back into his original form, the position of his head making a secondary cracking noise. Seth groaned happily.

"That's bad for your neck, Beta," Jack said quietly from where he knelt on the ground. "Some wolves phase crooked and stay that way."

Seth smirked and pulled on his jeans, zipping them up but feeling too lazy to actually button them. Instead he flopped on the ground next to his Packmate and offered Jack a smile. "So," he said easily, enjoying the fact that this particular tree was awfully nice at keeping the rain off his face. "That must have sucked, watching him cross the borders, huh?"

Jack was quiet, and then he nodded. "It…was not easy. But he has been given an allowance by the Alpha, and it is the Alpha's place to decide if he may go home. I am happy for my brother, even if his passing will be sorrowful. This life is not that as it once was, and it will give him comfort to be allowed to return, to be able to run alongside our ancestors. If he was to be laid to rest otherwise…"

The ancient wolf trailed off and Seth watched him, eyes narrowing a little. "If a Quileute dies and his or her body isn't returned to the lands of our people, their spirits won't join our ancestors?" Seth asked carefully, and Jack shook his head.

"No, brother. Those of us that are Pack must end our journeys where they began, if we wish our wolves' spirits to return to their rightful places. Otherwise we travel lost and alone. It is why the black hearted one was so distressed when our brothers in Yellowstone passed."

"The black hearted one?" Seth asked in confusion, and then he blinked. "Black. Oh, you mean _Tupkuk_. Who would have named him _that_? That's pretty mean."

"I did, Beta," Jack said in a fierce yet quiet voice, and Seth absorbed that before deciding to let it drop. With Jack one took information as it came and then allowed the other wolf time to decide if he would share more. Seth had all the time in the world to get to learn his Packmate, so he merely relaxed back.

"I named Leah Leels," Seth offered, drawing a squashed pack of gum out of his jeans pocket and pulling out two pieces. He handed one piece to Jack and unwrapped the second, popping it in his mouth. He chewed a moment and then blew a bubble. It wasn't a very good one. "She hated that name, was convinced I was secretly calling her an eel instead."

"Our she-wolf is clever," Jack chuckled, choosing to stretch and bend his piece of gum instead of chewing it.

"Not as clever as our Beta," Seth decided with a grin. "It was a combination of the words 'Leah smells'. Aren't you impressed with my cleverness?"

Jack smiled slightly, "Of course, Beta," he said quietly, if perhaps a bit indulgently. Seth nodded and swallowed his gum.

"Want to go fishing with me next week?" he asked standing up and offering Jack a hand. They clasped arms and Seth pulled Jack to his feet, bumping their shoulders as he added, "My dad was damn good, but I'm pretty sure you could out fish any of us. I'd like to see it."

The ancient wolf looked a taken aback, then ducked his head. "If you want to, Beta" he replied shyly, although a pleased expression entered his eyes. Seth chuckled and squeezed Jack's shoulder.

"You know, you don't have to look so damn surprised," Seth told the older wolf. "We're Pack. Not only that, I think we could learn a lot from you, brother, and you from us if you'd just give us the chance to share. And you don't have to sit out here and watch others have what you want. My Spidey sheets are awesome, and as your Beta, I'm totally willing to share those too. Beats living with a vampire, Jack."

Jack blinked and then looked instantly ashamed. "You knew about that?" he asked quietly, and Seth nodded.

"I'm your Beta, Jack, it's my job to know. Besides, the only other wolf that ever smells like a leech around here is Jake," Seth smiled gently before his face grew more serious. "And that's never worked out particularly well for him, no matter what he might say. It's not a natural way for us to live, Jack, and you're talking to a guy that actually likes vampires. When I was younger, I though Edward Cullen was the coolest guy I'd known, after Jake of course. But we're wolves, and we need other wolves around us."

The older man flinched a little at that, as if being chastised, and Seth softened his voice even more. "Listen, Jack, I understand you've been alone a long time, and I understand you need the companionship to not go crazy. But you're our Pack now, and it isn't necessary for you to continue living the way you are. You've never had anything to prove to us, but if you had, you sure as hell have proved it. You saved Jake, you saved Collin and Cassie, and you may have saved Jake a second time. If he hadn't kept you from fighting Tupkuk, he might have fought Tupkuk himself and that could have been bad."

"He would have won," Jack whispered loyally and but Seth frowned and shrugged.

"Maybe. Maybe not," the Beta said realistically. "But things ended up better this way, and at least those two are trying to work together. And you know, man, one of these days more wolves will come. If I know Jake, Jake won't turn them away. If you're still sitting on this side of the line when it happens, it's gonna hurt like hell watching them. And I won't lie, brother. I worry that one day we might need you over there, and you'll still be over here."

Jack thought about that and then shook his head. "No, Seth, I'll cross the border if the Pack needs me. I know my place, and even if that place is here, if a time comes that my place changes, I too will change. Until then…"

"Until then you get to live with a leech and flip burgers," Seth sighed. "Yeah man, I got it. I'm just saying, the offer's always open and the Spidey sheets rock."

The ancient wolf gave the Beta a smile, a little bigger than before, and he slanted him an amused look. "Our Alpha's imprint already tried to seduce me, brother. I refused then as well."

It took Seth a minute of staring at Jack in horror, desperately trying to figure out how to tell Jack that no, Seth wasn't trying to seduce him and what the _hell_ had Sims done _now_, to realize it was just a joke. Then Seth shuddered. "Don't do that to me again, man. _Please_. Imprints these days, they're giving me enough heart attacks as it is."

"I'm merely declining your offer, Beta," Jack was grinning now. "It's not a bad one, but not necessarily to my preference. Will the she-wolf be patrolling later?"

"And we're done," Seth declared, shuddering again at that new, horrid image. "Good _night_, Jack."

"Good night, Beta."

They began to part, both with a smile on their faces, but then a deep sadness slipped through them, and instinctively the wolves stepped back towards each other. Shoulders touching as they leaned together for comfort, they stood with bowed heads and heavy hearts. A mournful howl echoed through the trees. A brother, one who had never known the sickness, one that had never fully allowed himself to do as Chitakido had asked, was gone. A good wolf, a good man, had died. It hit Seth hard, much harder than it should have, much harder than any of the deaths of any Pack had, and he raised his face to the sky, adding his own soft cry to that of his Alpha. Jack must have truly known his place, because as the Beta slid down to the ground, buckling under the pain, the ancient wolf stayed at his side until the grief had passed.

In the back of his mind, Seth wondered what it all must mean, because long after Jake's pain had faded, the Beta's carried on.

* * *

Here in La Push it was always raining, but Cassie didn't mind the rain. She didn't mind the soft patter on the rooftop, or the dark grey light slipping through the windows. She definitely didn't mind the heavy arm draped over her torso. After all, it was only right, she was where she belonged, and that was with Paul.

His breath was warm on the back of her neck, his nose in her blonde hair, and he was sleeping deeply. Last night had been…emotional. But it had been needed. Her and Paul might never be on the same side of things, but that was okay. She loved him, and he loved her back. He wasn't perfect, but he was trying to be a better man, and she knew they both could be better together. And as he had told her last night, one day everything would be okay. For Cassie, right now she would take what she could get. She might not have the devil at her heels, but it was no reason not to live life like every moment mattered.

There was no reason to wait for 'one day' to become the person she had always been meant to be.

Her wolf was having nightmares, she could tell by the frown marring his handsome features and the way the imprint bond, the _Mate_ bond, between them pulled at her. Cassie had always felt like the imprint went both ways between them, that she was drawn to Paul just as much as he was drawn to her, but it was so much stronger now. So much deeper now, to the point that his worry, even in dreams, made her worry with him. She was little, and he was big, but her arms around him would still give comfort. Even big needed to know that everything would be okay, too.

Paul mumbled a little when she shifted beneath his arm, rolling over to hold him as they lay in their bed. Their bed, now. Not his, but theirs. Yesterday she might have questioned that, but right now all she could feel was how deeply they were bonded, how much the strength of this good man soothed her insecurities. Like a grater to her hard edges, softening her, easing her. Three months of questioning and re-questioning her actions had taught her that she had tried her hardest, and there was no shame in failing if one had given their everything. Three months of mourning the loss of her father, the loss of her happy ending, had taught her even when the worst happened, that life still went on. And as she rubbed her cold nose against his warm shoulder, Cassie knew to be thankful that she had ended up with this man. She could have ended up with another…no. No more. That was done, and this was now. Paul was now and she'd think of that one no more.

Cassie exhaled and ran her hand over Paul's back, the sleeping man instinctively arching into her touch. His dream was getting worse, so Cassie pressed her face into Paul's strong shoulder to wake him up, and she smiled when he blinked sleepily at her and gathered her closer.

"Hey, momma," he murmured tiredly, shifting so that he was lying back in the bed with her curled into his side. "Can't you sleep?"

She shook her head, loving how it made his arms wrap around her tighter. "You were dreaming, Paul. You were worried." He nodded against her hair, snuffing deeply as he curled around her.

"The room had nothing in it," he said, and she blinked at that. Paul's face twisted into a grimace as he continued. "And then the room was all filled up with prianik med…med…med _whatever_. Only they all had these scary little mouths, the cookies did, and they all talked in Russian. And they had Baba's eyebrows and Collin's voices and they sprouted legs and began chasing me. I couldn't even find any milk so I could destroy them."

"So you could destroy them?" Cassie bit her lip to keep from giggling but couldn't help herself. The arms around her tightened immediately.

"Oh," Paul growled dangerously in his low sexy rumble, "You think that's funny, do you?"

"Nuhuh," she promised untruthfully, still biting her lip, and then she squealed when he rolled over and gave her something to really laugh about.

His fingers tickled her sides mercilessly, until she was out of breath and pliant beneath his hands. Then Cassie drew Paul to her, asking silently for him, and after a moment's hesitation he agreed. He must have felt guilty his previous lovemaking had been so rough, because he was so very gentle this time around. And that was what she needed from him, would probably always need from him. At least by the way Paul groaned in pleasure as he rolled over onto his back and guided her hips across his, his hands spanning her backside and his eyes watching her heatedly as she came undone, she knew that he was okay with this. This was enough for him, _she_ was enough for him.

It was nice being someone's whole world, knowing that it went both ways.

He kissed her knuckles, sucking at her ring finger hard as he finished, as if trying to tell her something that a man like him just didn't know how to express. It was okay, he didn't have to say it, she still understood. And both curled up tiredly in the other's arms, exhausted but together. Paul immediately fell back asleep, despite the light coming from the windows, however Cassie stayed awake, running her hands through his hair and humming softly. Hers. She wasn't sure how she had managed to ruin everything so badly and still end up so lucky.

She missed her father, so much that it tore at her inside, and it tore at her almost as much that no one knew where her mother was, or if her mother was even still alive. She missed those moments spent with them, where her mother was smiling and her father was laughing, and they were both proud of her, fiercely proud. She missed being one of several, they had been a family, the way a family was supposed to be. That was…that was hard. She missed her sister, wondered if Ani was angry at any of them for keeping her in the dark, wondered if Koldan was holding Ani right now the way Paul was holding her. She wondered if Ani was happy. Cassie hoped so.

Cassie didn't miss her squirrel. He was curled up on the kitchen counter, chittering quietly in his slumber, although for some reason he had snuck a clean butter knife out of the sink and was sleeping on it as if it was a prized possession. Cassie thought that was cute. She'd have to get him a spoon and a fork too, if he liked bright and shiny utensils that much.

She gazed around the room, her mind wandering aimlessly, some thoughts good, some bad, some frightening, and some just full of reject. And when it became obvious that Cassie wouldn't be able to go back to sleep the way her lover could, Cassie slipped from their bed and padded across the room. She didn't have very many clothes here, so she pulled on a spare pair of underwear and the one of Paul's old shirts, the ones too small for him to wear anymore. It still went to her thighs and hung loose over her shoulders, and Cassie wrapped her arms around herself as she stood out the window, watching the grey skies lighten, the drizzle still coming down. Good she could do, bad she could learn to move past, but she was tired of fear and regret.

This was Cassie's life now, this was her home, and that was more than she ever could have asked for. But it wasn't easy, she had lived so long being chased, being scared, that this sense of peace and safety seemed too good to be true. For the first time in years, Cassie had no clue what she was supposed to do now. What happened when the fairy tale was over, when the last page had been turned and the book was closed? As she stood, listening to her wolf's soft snoring and the steady patter of rain against the rooftop, Cassie was pretty sure she knew. The Hunter was gone, the Wolf was sleeping, and she had a basket full of parts that would one day be able to put in their proper places. No more fear. No more regret. So Little Red took a deep breath, closed her eyes because it was a big world out there, and with faith and with hope she hung up her hood.

After all, when the fairy tale was over was when the real story started.

The falling water soaked Paul's shirt until it stuck to her skin, and her bared feet were muddy, but Cassie only heard the music of the rain, of this new world around her. No one was waiting, no one was expecting anything, and no one was watching or judging. There was nothing to fear, not for her, not now, so Cassie allowed herself to become lost in this different kind of music. She wasn't perfect anymore, and she probably never would be again. Her legs wouldn't hold the positions, not for long anyway, and there had been a time not so long ago that Cassie would never have even tried. After all, quitting dancing had been her biggest hurt, losing it had been the beginning of a very dark time for Cassie, and that loss had signified the end of the life she had always known. But dancing had also been her heart, her soul, what she had loved the most, and now that her heart and soul were busy loving something else, it left her free to fail without regret.

Because she loved Paul, because he loved her too, Cassie had finally learned the courage to fail, to be little and to be her, and to be okay with that. The world was grey and wet and imperfect, kind of like she was, but it was _her_ world and she cherished every moment of it.

As his less than perfect imprint danced in the rain, Paul stood in the doorway and watched her with new, hungry eyes. _Here_ she was. Here was his soul mate, he had finally found her. And she was the most beautiful fucking thing he had ever known.

The End


	23. Epilogue

**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Two**

Epilogue

"Jacob Black, my niece is _not_ wearing that!"

The tiny woman was having a fit, one that involved a lot of fluttering around and evil glaring. Lucky for Jake, he was quite used to that kind of treatment from the women he was fond of. The Alpha shot an amused look at the vampire behind him, the large bathroom mirror showing a flash of white teeth. "Ness looks cute, Alice," he disagreed as he lifted his tools of artistic brilliance back up. "And since Bella already okayed it, you're sh—erm…you're out of luck."

"I'm aware of common colloquialisms, Jacob," Renesmee informed him softly. The little girl was seated on the bathroom counter, trying to hold very still as Jacob fixed her face paint just right. Being a male and a wolf, he wasn't very good at it, but he was having fun. More to the point, he was having fun with _her_, and Renesmee very much didn't want to ruin that. "It doesn't offend me if you wish to use them," she added.

"Yes, _dog_," Rosalie said sarcastically as she passed by in the hallway, sniffing indelicately. "Please, _curse_ around the child. It'll be a good educational experience for her, kind of like spending the evening with you mutts."

For a moment, Renesmee worried that Jacob would get angry at that, but he just flashed a second grin, this one aimed at her. "Yeah, yeah. See, Nessie?" Jake chuckled as he wiped at her cheek with a makeup remover pad and started over again. "See what you have to put up with? This is why I'm stealing you away tonight, because all little girls should get to go out on Halloween, and this lot doesn't seem to get that."

"It's necessary for vampires to stay out of the notice of the common populace," Renesmee explained quietly, her lilting voice a little muffled by his huge hand near her mouth. "I understand," she added with a small smile.

"Yeah, honey, it's necessary for _them_, but you're not a le—you're not a vampire, Ness. You're a little girl," he reminded her, standing back and looking pleased at his work. "And little girls say 'people' not 'populace'."

"I said it incorrectly?" she asked, worried again, and Jake sighed, giving Alice an annoyed look.

"Do you think maybe you guys could remember that kids need more than text books and leech lessons?" he growled at the pixie sized vampire, before snagging Renesmee off the counter. She was too old to be carried around like this on Jacob's hip, but he seemed to regularly forget that she wasn't the three year old child her biological age said she was. "Seriously, Alice, Ness worries more than anyone I've ever met. Tell Bells that I'm stealing her daughter and teaching her to have some _fun_."

"Jacob, _please_," Alice begged, her eyes wide and almost watery. "Please don't take her out in that. Bella has no taste, and it's just…it's just wrong for you to take her out in that! I have a stunning fifteenth century gown that fits her perfectly, and I know I can get that awful stuff that you spackled on her face off. Bella-"

Jake snickered and patted Alice on the head, an action very much not appreciated by the vampire. "She looks cute, and this is what Ness and I picked out at the store last week. Live with it."

Renesmee was torn, she didn't want her Aunt Alice to be unhappy with how she looked, but Jake had worked so hard on making her outfit just right. Seeing the confusion on her face, Jake hugged her closer to his side and shot her a smile. "Ignore her, Nessie. She's a snob sometimes, but she's not so bad. Later, Alice!"

"Jacob Black, you bought that at _Wal-Mart_!" Renesmee could hear Alice wailing as Jake jogged out of the house, making sure to stretch his legs a little in the getaway attempt. It was easier to escape than normal because Bella and Edward had already retreated to their cottage after lecturing Jake the way they always did when he took her onto the reservation. Alice would lament Renesmee's outfit to Jasper all night, and Rosalie never missed a chance to insult Jake, but if Bella and Edward had said yes to her going to the party, then Jake was taking her. Renesmee knew this, and she appreciated it much more than Jake realized. Her hand was against his arm, and Jake chuckled.

"Naw, I know you appreciate it, Ness," he told her cheerfully, hoisted her up to his shoulders. "I should get you out of that place more often, I've just been kinda busy lately. But it's Halloween, and that's no time to be sitting around alone with vampires."

Jake seemed to think his joke was funny, so Renesmee smiled, although for someone who had spent her entire life sitting around alone with vampires, the humor was a little lost on her. Her hand was still touching him, and Jake let out a guffaw at that.

"Aww, come on. It's funny and you know it," he decided, and when he tickled her knee, the one covered in black tights, she did giggle. This went on for a while, Jake tickling her mercilessly as Renesmee laughed and twisted and tried not to ruin her wings at the same time. Finally she played dirty and squashed her little hand against his neck, replaying for him the last time that Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Emmett had thought that she was sleeping in the next room and had forgotten to listen to her breathing for when she woke up. A minute of that had the Alpha gagging and shuddering and he called uncle.

Renesmee smiled. It was good to win.

"Yeah yeah, kid," he rolled his eyes as they trotted over the treaty line onto the wolves' territory and headed towards Embry's house. "You always win, I'm just a big sucker. Now remember, there are some normal people here tonight, so you gotta talk, okay? Kim's sister Nikki doesn't know about the wolves, and if Shane shows up, he doesn't either. I think some of Embry's students will be here, and Samantha's friend Chancy will too later on. She's funny, you should talk to her if you get the chance, before Seth gets too possessive of her time and attention. "

"Will there be a lot of people at the party, Jake?" Renesmee accidentally slipped into his nickname, which she tried not to do. He was her elder and that was bad manners.

"Naw, it's just me, kid, and you definitely don't have to watch you manners around me," Jake reassured her kindly. Then he frowned. "Honey, do you want to swing by the store and get some gloves? You're broadcasting more than you realize, I think." Renesmee flushed in humiliation, and then Jake lifted her off his shoulders and set her on her feet, hunkering down on his heels so that he could look her in the eyes. "Ness? Are you okay? You smell nervous, Nessie."

"This is my first real party, Jacob," she said softly, and the Alpha nodded. He patiently waited for her to continue, and Renesmee looked down at the ground. "And I was thinking that perhaps I shouldn't have dressed up like I did. I researched Halloween costumes, and it's supposed to be something frightening, a monster or something similar. I think I should have gone as myself, but that wouldn't be appropriate, because vampires aren't supposed to be drawing attention to themselves. It feels wrong to go like this. Alice always says that you need to show up at a party in exactly the most appropriate fashion, and these aren't it." She pointed to one of her antenna, which kept bobbing around when her head moved.

Jake was quiet for a moment and then he tugged on her wing. "Hey Ness?"

"Yes Jacob?"

"You know I love you, right?" he told her with a little smile. She blinked because it wasn't something he had said often. "Ever since you showed up, kid, you've been my number one squirt. I hadn't planned on it, but you mattered from day zero. So if you don't want to go, we can go hunting, or maybe get milkshakes in Forks at the diner instead. But I'm not taking you to a Halloween party without a costume, because you're _not_ a monster, Nessie. I know the word doesn't mean the same to you as it does to a lot of folks, but I'm not gonna listen to you think that way. Real monsters are different, honey, and that's not you."

Renesmee nodded, and even though his words weren't logical, they were appreciated.

"Come on," he said, taking her hand and giving her a cocky grin. "Stick with me, and you'll be the belle of the ball, the way Alice wanted. I'm the Alpha, after all, so being my date means that you're one lucky girl."

"That wasn't very modest, Jacob," Renesmee giggled, and he winked at her.

"Ah but so very very true. Plus you get to meet my imprint, Ness, and she'll like you," he promised her. Then Jake's face twisted up funnily and he laughed. "Samantha loves kids, it's us adults she's not as fond of. She tried to fight Quil for Claire trick or treating rights and it nearly came to blows."

"Your imprint doesn't like you, Jacob?" Renesmee asked in confusion, and Jake chuckled.

"When I figure it out, I'll let you know," he smirked. The sound of Halloween themed music became audible to her sensitive ears, and when Renesmee realized the song playing was the Monster Mash, she smiled wider. She had been taught to appreciate the greatest composers of each musical era, but last Halloween she had spent the night listening to this song secretly on her i-Pod. She made sure to keep her thoughts from slipping through her hand and into Jake's head when she remembered that she had even made up her own little dance to go along with it that she'd never showed anyone.

Renesmee never saw the smile that crossed his handsome face before quickly being tucked away so she wouldn't notice.

There were a lot of people gathered outside of the house, although Renesmee could hear more inside. There were a slew of carved pumpkins in the yard, the whole Pack must have brought them over, and someone had found it amusing to put a scary looking stuffed squirrel with a butter knife on top of a fake gravestone in the front yard. The smoke from the smoke machine was filling the yard, and Renesmee liked watching the strobe lights make the smoke turn different colors. The music wasn't horribly loud, after all nearly all the Pack was there, and their ears were just as good as hers were. A man dressed as a zombie, his white shirt stained with fake blood, was running around with a mummy girl on his back, her long legs wrapped around his waist as he spun her in circles, her toilet paper costume losing pieces as she did.

"Embry, I'm losing my wrappings," the girl was laughing, and Embry was grinning as she had to cling tighter to his neck for balance.

"That's kind of the point, sweetheart," he told her, and then he spun her faster until he realized Jake was there. The mummy yelped when he hit the brakes, and she would have tumbled over his shoulder, but he caught her and hauled her upright. Giving them both a huge smile, Embry threw his arm over the dizzy girl's shoulders and hugged her to his side tightly. "Hey Jake, Nessie! I like your outfit, Ness. Jake…wow, man, way to lower the standards."

"Hey, I accessorized," Jake said snootily, pointing at the object in his back pocket. Then he grinned and tossed something from his other pocket at the mummy. "Hey, apple girl, happy birthday."

"Umm…thanks?" she said uncertainly, holding up a small can of pepper spray. "I think?" She glared as Embry burst out laughing. "_What_?"

"It'll hurt him less than the tire iron, honey," Embry murmured in her ear, and the mummy flushed at little, but then grinned and stuck the pepper spray in her wrappings.

"We'll see," she chuckled, before wrapping her arm around Embry's waist. If it bothered Jake, it didn't show at all. In fact he seemed more than pleased as he talked to the pair.

Jake had told Renesmee earlier that this was a joint Halloween party and a birthday party for Samantha, and that considering Samantha was eighteen and as of today had moved in with Embry, the older wolf would be "retardedly happy" as Jake put it. The phrase had been awkward, but Renesmee understood. Embry and Samantha, for that's who the girl must be, both looked very happy. Samantha was smiling at her in a friendly manner, so was Embry, but the rest of the Pack was rolling out of the house to greet the Alpha and the best she could give was a shy smile before trying to inconspicuously nudge her way behind Jake's huge form. There were at least fifteen people still inside, and it occurred to Renesmee that she had never been around this many humans or wolves before without her family there. It was a little unnerving.

"Aww, Ness, don't be shy!" Collin declared as he came out of the house, dragging a tiny blonde girl barely covered with strategically placed flowers with him, Brady and a drunken Kim at his heels. Brady looked more serious than she remembered, but he seemed pretty amused at the drunken Grapeade Snapple bottle he was hauling around on his back. Collin wasn't wearing anything that looked like a costume, but there was something about the clothes he was wearing, and the grumpy expression on his face. Renesmee laughed, she couldn't help herself.

"Jacob, did Collin come as Paul for Halloween?" she whispered, and those with enhanced hearing snickered.

"Yep!" Seth told her, walking up and snatching Renesmee out from behind Jake. The Beta had dressed like Spiderman, and she thought it was funny to see a grown man in a full spandex one piece. Seth hefted her up in his arms and squished her so hard her wing flapped. "Scariest person Collin knows. Paul and Jared are…working tonight, Leah too, so Collin and Brady came as Paul and Jared. You should hear Collin grunt, it's perfect."

"I've been practicing," Collin admitted, looking at his nails casually and the little blonde next to him grinned and swatted him, snickering for him to be nice to her wolf. Collin whispered back that he was always nice to Paul, not that Paul returned the favor, and the two launched into a debate with logic so misguided that Renesmee did her best not to listen anymore. Kim swayed unsteadily on Brady's back, adjusted her bottle cap hat, and told Brady/Jared that she had worn her 'special' underwear that night. It was purple too. Renesmee blushed at that, but Brady only laughed and reminded Kim that he was Brady, not Jared, so she needed to keep her wrapper on. Seth was telling Renesmee that he liked her antenna, and that they had waited until she got there to bob for apples, but Renesmee grew distracted by the shocked expression on Jake's face. Seth noticed and then he chuckled.

"Yeah," Seth nodded, "He's here, but he's still hiding in the house. In the far left kitchen corner to be exact."

"How did you even get him here?" Jake asked, lowering his voice so that only the three could hear.

"I lied," Seth smirked proudly. "I told him that it was an important Pack ceremony and that his ass better be here. He knew I was lying too, but it gave him the excuse. He _wants_ to be here, man, but he's got his own set of rules, you know? If I give him enough reason, he'll break them. Yesterday he caught Leah a rabbit over the line without thinking about it, and two weeks ago he followed that leech the doc wants into the rez and off it again without falling apart, so that shit's all in his head. I think he's feeling guilty though, so go do your Alpha thing. It should help."

Jake nodded and then clasped Seth's shoulder. "This was good, Seth," he murmured, "Thank you." She felt a momentary panic as Jake walked away, but she was with Seth, and that was okay. Seth and her father were friends, and next to Jake, Seth was the wolf she felt the most comfortable with. As if he could tell she was nervous, Seth tugged Renesmee's antenna so that it was lopsided and squished her again.

"Seriously, Ness, you look adorable," he told her, and Renesmee smiled at the Beta, who was wiggling his fingers in front of her to show the bits of webbing stuck to the tips. He seemed very proud of his costume.

"Thank you, Seth," she replied. "I like your spandex. And Happy Halloween," she remembered to add politely, and Seth grinned.

"I like my spandex too. Can you believe Leah _and_ bunny lop made fun of me for it? At least you have taste, Ness. You know, kid, I think us wolves are going to have to break you of all that politeness stuff," he decided. "Hey Embry, if I get one foot and you get the other, do you think we can shake it out of her?"

Embry's grin widened and he took a step forward. "I don't know, but it's worth a shot," Embry decided, and Renesmee looked at them in horror. Jake had spent so _long_ getting her costume right. If they shook her…

"Oh be nice, you two," Samantha growled, walking up and flicking Seth in the eyeball. "Leave her alone." He blinked and then flicked Samantha back, but she ignored him and brandished her pepper spray pointedly. Chuckling Seth set Renesmee down, and it surprised her when Samantha smiled and offered her a hand. The other imprints had been nervous around her when she had met them, and she was pretty sure that Samantha knew she was a half vampire. Extremely shyly, Renesmee placed her hand in Samantha's. The older girl gave her fingers a squeeze.

"Come on, we've got lots of stuff inside," Jake's imprint said kindly. Then she shot a look at the boys as the two headed for the front door of Samantha's new home. "If none of that tastes good, I'll let you eat Seth, he's only here for comedic relief anyways."

"Ouch," Seth and Embry murmured in tandem, but all three of the adults smirked as if Seth had that coming. Samantha jerked, and Renesmee realized in horror that her thought had slipped through their skin contact. She wasn't used to having to control her gift and when she was nervous, it made it worse. Jake was already coming back for her through the house, but in the few moments he was gone, she'd already messed up. This had been a bad idea, she thought sadly as she withdrew her hand, but warm fingers closed around her own.

"It's not a bad idea," Samantha said calmly, if a bit stiffly, "And Seth _always_ has it coming."

"You don't have to hold my hand if it makes you uncomfortable," Renesmee told Samantha quietly. "It's okay, I understand."

Samantha growled a little at that, and squeezed her hand again. "Naw, I'm cool, you just surprised me." Broad shoulders filled the doorway, Jake's only costume decoration, a large bug catching net sticking out of his back pocket and knocking into the doorjamb. "However, _someone_ should have probably warned me, so I didn't hurt a _child's feelings_, Jacob Black," Samantha added tightly.

Jake seemed instantly abashed, and he gave both of them an apologetic look that involved devastatingly effective puppy dog eyes. Renesmee caved instantly and smiled reassuringly at him, but Samantha just rolled her eyes and muttered "Nice try." Hmmm…Renesmee was starting to see what Jake had been talking about. She unfortunately thought that too, and as Samantha glared suspiciously at Jake, he stepped out of the door and aside to let them pass. When Samantha's face was turned, Jake started making cutting gestures across his throat at Renesmee that had her giggling again, and she was still giggling as she looked at the man that had started to follow Jake out through the doorway.

He was a stranger, but he smelled of wolf and slightly of Jake, meaning he was of Jake's Pack even though she had never met him before today. Native American, but shorter than the others, slimmer too. Plain features on his sun browned skin, his only distinguishing feature a deep scar over his nose and onto his cheek. He offered her a quiet smile, despite his downturned face, but then the stranger sniffed and raised his eyes and met hers.

The wolf went completely still.

Renesmee would never be able to adequately explain what she experienced that day, although oddly enough Samantha would understand it the best, since the older girl was still holding Renesmee's hand and at that moment the half vampire child hadn't been anywhere close to being able to control her thoughts. All she knew was that something very important had just happened to her, that this wolf in front of her was essential in some foreign undefined way, and that she probably should be holding his hand instead of Samantha's. Renesmee let go and took a step forward.

A look of sheer horror filled the wolf's eyes, and a tremor rolled down his limbs in a single violent wave. He whispered something in Quileute in a strangled voice, and then Jake was there, his arms around both Renesmee and Samantha as he shoved them away from the wolf. It was clear why, because Embry and Seth only managed to get the wolf three steps around the corner of the house before he phased and let out an earsplitting howl, one that caused several partygoers to let out shrieks of fear. It was a howl of such pain that the little girl had moved before she even realized it. Renesmee fought out of Jake's arms, her costume twisting sideways as she lurched after him. Someone tried to stop her, she was pretty sure it was Seth, but her venomless fangs were sharp and Seth let her go with a curse. Then she was running, running as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Renesmee was running after the wolf.

* * *

He had imprinted. He was too old to imprint. He was far too old and too damaged to stop phasing, and therefore should never have been able to imprint. But he had.

He had imprinted, but he had imprinted on a child, and that was difficult at best. Not unheard of, but he was old, far too old to have imprinted, especially on a child.

He had imprinted, but he had imprinted on a child that wasn't human. He had imprinted on a child whose blood burned through vampire veins. His imprint was a vampire.

He had killed his brother for a vampire, had lost his Pack for a vampire, had lost his self and his soul for a vampire, had lost any hope of redemption, of resting at piece because of a vampire. A vampire like his imprint.

He had allowed himself to foolishly believe that there was new hope, new redemption in this Pack, in this Alpha. He had allowed himself to believe that he could start over, could be what he should have been the first time around, but he had failed the Pack _again_, had brought his Alpha shame _again_. Because he had imprinted on a vampire.

He should have known better. He should never have crossed that line, never allowed the kindness of his Beta and the strength of his Alpha to reassure him that it was okay for him to go home again. It was the _ancestors_ that he had angered, and in believing his redemption could be gained through any form other than appeasing them, he had only managed to anger them more. He was such a fool.

He was being chased, the child was running after him, and he only ran harder. His body flew over the ground, carrying him away in shame from the Pack that he never should have been allowed to have. Two voices in his head, one younger and louder, one softer and stronger and as old as he was, telling him to stop. But those voices were lost beneath the cries of those who never ever left him alone. Their voices chanting his betrayal in his head, louder and louder and louder and each step carried him away.

Jack had just made it to the border of their lands when his Alpha roared in his head for him to _**STOP**_ running away. So that was what Jack did, skidding and tumbling across the ancestral border in an effort to obey the order. Safely on the other side, the side that he deserved to be on, Jack trembled and tried to understand the limitations of the order. The Alpha had said to stop running, but he could still hide. Yes, he could still do that. So Jack crawled under the foliage beside him, a huge leafy fern. He tried to make himself as small as possible as he backed further beneath it, his whole body trembling. He was sorry. He was sorry. He was so so very sorry, Alpha. He didn't mean to, he didn't mean to, he was _sorry_…

His Pack was coming for him, but he shut out their voices, unable to understand what they were saying. Too many voices all roaring at the same time, so many that he wasn't even sure which one was his anymore. So many that he never understood how he even _heard_ the soft rustle of the grass in front of him. So many angry voices…so many that he could only shiver and whine, letting out soft crying noises as he mentally begged them to please please stop. He was sorry. He was so very sorry, please stop, please _please_ stop...

There was another rustle, this time leaves, and he shrank back into his hiding hole, wiggling into the dirt to try and make himself even smaller. He could smell her, a scent that had burned into his brain the very first time it had hit his nostrils, and he rolled his head sideways on the ground. He was cornered…maybe he could fight his way free? The ancestors wanted that, they wanted that very much. She was a vampire. He was supposed to kill vampires. His inability to do so was why he was so blamed, and the wolf quivered as their shame rolled over him in waves. He was sorry. He was sorry.. .

His Alpha's voice thrusting into the forefront of his thoughts and roaring even louder than all the others. His Alpha telling Jack that he could _not_ hurt Nessie. That if he did, Jake _himself_ was killing Jack. _**He could not hurt her**_. The voices disagreed, and as the little girl crawled beneath the fern, reaching out her hand to him, Jack squeezed his eyes and prayed to whoever was left listening to please help him. He didn't know what to do. Please, he didn't know what to do…

The butterfly landed on his nose.

Jack shivered and opened his eyes. The little girl's outfit was torn, her antenna sideways and her wing damaged, but her eyes were sweet and kind if very uncertain. Her palm brushed against the soft fur of his muzzle as she whispered into his mind to not be frightened, that she wouldn't be frightened if he wasn't either. They could be not scared together. In that moment, for the length of time that the child was speaking in his mind, all of the others voices in his head stopped. _Every single other voice stopped_. It was then that the wolf knew what to do. Betrayal or not, one would ever hurt this one, not her, not _ever_.

This time Jack would do this right.

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A/N lol. Surprise. :D Since I didn't get through enough material in Book Two, I've added in an extra story. I had always intended on having the Jack/Ness imprint, but for later on when she was older. However, I'm going to try my hand at a child imprint, just to see what I can make of it, and finish out the Pack interaction scenes I had wanted for Book Two. Book Two was a pretty harsh and dark story, but Book Three should be softer and kinder. Yes, I will include the Cullens (even the dreaded Bella) but as little as I can get away with. I still only like Carlisle out of all of them. Also expect a lot of Jack backstory, Pack interaction, Paul/Cassie, Embry/Sims, and Jake/Seth. Lol. Just joking on that last one. Give me two or three weeks to get the next one up, and if you want drabbles in the meantime, drop by my livejournal account. The link's on my homepage. Thanks for reading, you guys have been awesome. ~mel


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